Of Episode Tags and Missing Scenes
by SabbyStarlight
Summary: Now complete with MacGyver MacGyver tag!
1. X-RayPenny

**So I'm leaving this fic open and from now on this is where I'll post all my, as the title would suggest, episode tags and missing scenes. I'm not really one for writing multi-chapter fics, but this seemed easier than posting a new story every time I wanted to do a followup to an ep. So if tags are your thing you may wanna follow this one.**

 **Part One (The Reunion Scene We Were Robbed Of)**

Mac took in an audible breath as his awareness came back, grateful for the fresh (at least by LA standards) air he could finally take in. His eyes snapped open and closed just as quickly upon seeing the small crowd of people surrounding him. It was all to much; to loud, to crowded, to bright. His hands scrambled on the hard sidewalk, searching for something to help him up. Someone ignored the voices advising him not to move, pulled one of the cafe chairs closer to him, and helped him up and into a sitting position. He closed his eyes again, fighting against the nausea and dizziness moving had caused.

"Just take it easy." A kind voice instructed. "An ambulance is on it's way."

A whirlwind of panic overtook Mac's mind, images of more needles, hospital beds with shiny metal restraints, doctors and nurses whose faces warped into Murdoc's in the blink of an eye. "No." He insisted, though he wasn't sure that the tone of his voice was very convincing. "Jack."

"Jack?" The kind voice asked. "Is that you're name?"

Mac's face furrowed, his mind wasn't working right, wasn't explaining. "No. Need Jack."

"Alright, calm down." She instructed, sensing his rising panic. "Who's Jack?"

"He's…" Mac frowned again. He didn't want to have to explain, he just wanted his partner. "He's Jack." He answered, to exhausted to explain the complexity of their relationship. "Need Jack."

"Okay, we can call Jack." The woman answered, her voice slow as if she were speaking to a frightened animal. "Do you know his number?" She asked, pulling a cell phone from her back pocket.

Mac shook his head, eyes squinting shut as the movement sent shockwaves through his skull. "Can't remember..." He took in a shuddering breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "Phone." He said suddenly, holding out a slightly shaking hand.

The woman handed over the device, a dubious look on her face. Mac's mind couldn't remember the numbers, but his fingers flew over the touchscreen as if on autopilot, quickly dialing correctly.

The line rang twice, the tone harsh and shrill in Mac's ear but he refused to pull the phone away. Before the third piercing ring could sound Mac heard the voice answer. "Jack Dalton." Came the loud, clear voice.

Mac was so relieved to hear the sound of the voice that he nearly dropped the borrowed cell phone from his trembling hand. Apparently the phone's owner had been prepared for that though, because she quickly removed the phone and had it placed against her own ear before Mac could turn to look at her. He heard her answering Jack's quick-fired questions as best she could and finally giving him their address before hanging up. She dropped a gentle hand to Mac's shoulder. "He's on his way."

Jack flew through the downtown LA traffic, his speedometer nearly doubling the numbers posted on every speed limit sign he passed. Maddy must have called and alerted the local cops,he thought, because there were no sirens trailing him. They couldn't have caught him even if they tried though, he was a man on a mission.

He slowed down slightly as he turned onto the street and saw the ambulance parked outside the cafe he had been called from. Pulling as close to the scene as he could, he quickly slammed the car into park and ran out, not wasting time to take the keys out of the ignition or shut the door.

His knees nearly buckled in relief as he caught the first glimpse of his partner, sitting on the back of the ambulance, a blood pressure cuff fastened around one arm, arguing with the paramedic. He was pale, but he looked fine all things considered. Jack took a few steadying breaths and moved closer, pushing his way through the small crowd that had gathered.

He finally made it close enough to overhear the paramedic say, as he removed the blood pressure cuff, something about the dangers of refusing medical treatment. Jack smiled, typical Mac. He was close enough now to see the dark splash of blood dried down one arm but no other physical injuries. Based on the glazed-over look in Mac's usually bright blue eyes and the fact that he was a mere four feet away and his partner hadn't noticed him yet, Jack was guessing Murdoc had gotten a little experimental with drugs.

He couldn't take it any longer. He strode forward, boots clacking against the sidewalk, until he was directly in Mac's line of sight. A soft "Hey, bud." fell from his lips and Mac's eyes finally met his The next thing he knew he had his arms full of a trembling blonde kid.

"It's alright, it's alright." He repeated quietly, callused hands rubbing the space between bony shoulder blades. "I gotcha now. You're okay. You're safe."

"Jack." Mac breathed out the word in a sigh of relief, hand coming up to twist in the back of Jack's shirt, his face buried in the older man's chest.

"Yeah, pal. I'm right here." He assured, passing a hand over his partner's hair, before pulling the young man out of the hug, keeping both hands on his shoulders. "Why don't we sit back down, huh?" He asked, nodding towards the ambulance and the annoyed paramedic. "You're not lookin' too stable at the moment."

"I'm fine." Mac insisted but he sat back down anyway. Jack made sure to keep a steady hand on his shoulder, not liking his color.

"What're we lookin' at here?" He asked, switching his attention over to the paramedic.

"I'm assuming you're Jack?" The man asked. "He's been asking for you since before I got here."

"Yeah, well I'm here now." Jack replied. "Again. What're we lookin' at?"

"From what I can tell, he was drugged." The man answered. "But he refuses to let me take any blood. Or even sit in the damned truck for that matter."

"Mac." Jack admonished, sending his partner an accusatory glance. "You gotta let him help ya, bud."

"No needles." Mac replied, and the fear that flashed through his eyes when they looked up and met Jack's made him wince in sympathy. "Home."

"We need to get him to the hospital." The paramedic interrupted looking at Jack, having given up reasoning with his patient.

"Jack. No." Mac insisted, reaching up with a shaking hand and pulling on Jack's shirt. "Home."

"What if I took him?" Jack asked. "He's a little freaked out right now. I don't think an ambulance ride is gonna be a good idea."

"Jack. No." Mac insisted again, the fearful whine in his voice was like a dagger to Jack's already guilt-ridden heart. He dropped to a knee, making himself eye level with the young man.

"We gotta get you checked out." He answered, not willing to risk Mac's health by giving in on that argument. "But I can take you, okay?"

Mac shook his head no as Jack tried to convey with his eyes, as to not disclose the location and secret purpose of the Phoenix Foundation, that he wasn't just planning on stopping at the closest emergency room, but rather getting his partner to Phoenix's infirmary.

"We'll go to that nice quiet one." He pressed on. "You know, the one real close to work?" Jack sighed in relief when he saw the realization dawn on Mac's face.

"Oh. Okay." He agreed quietly.

"Good." Jack patted him on the knee and stood up. ""Let's get goin'."

"Wait." The paramedic stood up and took a step closer to Jack. "I can't just let him go with you. It's my responsibility to make sure he gets the appropriate medical attention. Unless you're family I can't…"

"I am." Jack interrupted quickly. "I'm his…" His mind drifted back to the week before and the not-so-funny joke about him being the crazy uncle. "Dad." He decided quickly, knowing that those three letters would be the quickest way to get his partner to safety. And if he were being perfectly honest with himself, he felt he was deserving of a little higher title than crazy uncle. "I'm his dad." He carefully helped Mac to stand. "And we're leavin'. Thanks for your help."

"Thank you." Mac said once they were out of earshot of the ambulance.

"Hey, don't mention it." Jack said good naturedly. "That's what partners are for, right?"

"Yeah, but no." Mac sighed in frustration and stopped walking, hating how the drugs still coursing through his system prevented him from getting the words out right. "You really are. What you said back there." He shrugged. "You're here and he's not."

Jack smiled and slung an arm around Mac's shoulders as they finished the trek to the car. "I'll always be here, kid."

 **Part Two**

Jack kept up a steady stream of pointless rambling for the first half of their ride back to Phoenix until the sound of his partner's voice and the familiar scent of his car began to lull Mac to sleep.

"Hey, now. Keep those eyes open for me." He ordered, his hand moving from the wheel to Mac's shoulder to emphasize his point.

"Sorry." Mac passed a hand over his face, trying to wake himself up. "Just tired."

"Yeah, I know." Jack sighed. "We're almost there."

"No we're not." Mac argued, taking note of the mile marker as they passed it. "Still pretty far away."

"Alright fine. Since my heroic tales are puttin' you to sleep, you're turn. Talk." He shot a glance at the young man riding shotgun. His color was a little better, not quite as pale, and he was saying more than two words at a time now so that was progress, but he was far from okay.

"What do you want me to talk about?" Mac asked with a sigh, knowing that Jack hadn't been simply suggesting he take a turn filling in the silence.

"Well I'm ready to listen whenever you need to talk about what all went down back there." Jack promised. "But somehow I get the feelin' that you're not gonna be ready to do that for a while." He continued, seeing Mac slowly shaking his head. "And that's fine. Take your time, no rush. Whenever you're ready. But let's start small, huh? Your arm. What happened there?"

Mac glanced down at the dried blood covering the torn puncture mark. "Where he put the needle." He answered quietly.

"Well damn, he did a pretty bad job didn't he?" Jack exclaimed. "No wonder you were so leery of lettin' that medic back there help ya."

Mac's lips turned upwards in a wry grin. "Nah, I did most of the damage." He admitted, focusing on keeping his body from visibly shuddering at the memory. "Pulled it out with my teeth."

"With your teeth." Jack repeated slowly, the pieces of the puzzle beginning to fall into place.

Mac glanced down at the slight bruises that were beginning to form around his wrists from the cuffs. "Had to get it out somehow." He shrugged. "And I needed a lockpick."

"You picked your cuffs with a needle?" Jack asked, never failing to be impressed by his partner's ability to think on the fly.

"Had to." Mac answered. "They took my knife after they…" He slowly trailed off, realizing his mistake a second too late.

"After they what?" Jack asked, his voice cold.

"They had a taser." Mac replied quietly. "That's how they got the drop on me."

Jack nodded, knowing that now was not the time to get upset that Mac had 'forgotten' to mention being tased. "I wondered. So what, you just let 'em in the front door?"

The "I thought it was gonna be you," that followed was barely spoken above a whisper but Jack heard it loud and clear.

He sighed, reaching over and laying a hand on Mac's knee. "It should have been, bud. It should have been. But that's an apology for another day."

"I have a couple of those adding up too." Mac reminded him.

"Later. That's the least of my worries right now." Jack assured, "And hey, why would you think it was me at your door? Since when do I knock?"

"That should have been my first clue." Mac admitted.

"Family don't knock." Jack reminded him with a smile. "But hey, circling back to the beginning of this touching little story," He began as he took his hand from Mac's knee and started digging around in his pocket. "Seems like you're missin' this." He handed over the red knife. 

"Thanks." Mac said gratefully, turning the worn metal over in his hands.

"Just don't tell Maddy I took that from the crime scene." Jack advised.

"Deal." Mac promised, lifting his hips of the seat and putting the knife back in his pocket.

Jack smiled looking over at the young man in the passenger seat. "Back where it belongs."

Mac grinned back, both of them knowing that Jack wasn't just talking about the knife.

 **Part Three**

Mac struggled against the metal holding him in place, though he knew it was pointless. There was no way he was getting out of the mess of mangled automobile parts by himself. He took a breath, forcing himself to take stock of the situation. Murdoc had Fletcher, there was nothing he could do about that until he got out of this damned van. "Jack?" He asked, turning his head, carefully, towards the driver's side.

He sighed when he saw his partner next to him. There was a gash on the older man's forehead and he was out cold, but it didn't look serious. "Jack." Mac tried again, reaching out with a slow arm and nudging his partner's shoulder. "Wake up, big guy. Need your help."

"Mac?" Another voice called from the back of the van. He had honestly forgotten that she was there.

"Cage? You alright?" He asked, not able to turn around to see for himself.

"My leg." She said. "I think it's…" There was a slight groan from the twisted metal surrounding them as she, he assumed, tried to move, hissing in pain at the result. "Yeah, definitely broken."

"Alright, just stay still." He called behind him, trying to sound reassuring as the panic of their situation began setting in. "We're gonna be alright, just gotta get out of here."

"How's Jack?" She asked, her voice tight with pain.

"Fan-freakin-tastic" Came a quiet groan from the driver's seat. "Mac, you hurt?" He asked, his first priority as always.

Mac sighed in relief upon seeing his partner awake. "I don't… I don't think so." Mac replied. "Not bad at least. Just can't move. You?"

"I'm good." Jack assured as he pulled his tactical knife from his belt and began slicing through the seat belt restraints. "Cage? You good?" He yelled, trying to catch a glimpse of the woman through the mangled car.

"Been better." She called back.

"Fletcher?" Jack asked suddenly as he remembered the reason they were in the transport van in the first place.

"Murdoc got him." Mac answered. "They're long gone."

"They're gonna wish they were when I get my hands on 'em." Jack promised as he finally broke free and kicked open what was left of his door. "Alright, bud. Let's get you outta here, huh?"

"Cage." Mac insisted. "She's hurt. Get her first."

Jack shot him a glare that showed just how much he disliked that idea but he was going to do it anyway. "Here." He pulled his phone from his pocket. "You move your hands?" He smiled a comforting grin as Mac nodded and he pressed the device into Mac's closest hand. "Call Riley. Maddy. Bozer. Hell, I don't care at this point. Call someone and have 'em send help." Mac nodded as Jack exited the vehicle and moved on to helping Cage.

By the time Jack had pulled Cage and her broken leg out of the still smoldering van, Maddy and a team of agents were on their way, Riley and Bozer were tracking traffic cams searching for any sign of Murdoc and Fletcher, and a fleet of police, firetrucks, and ambulances, were en route. Mac was staying as still as he could, eyes tightly closed, silently telling himself that the tight space he was trapped in was not getting smaller, it was just all the stress of the day catching up with him. He jumped when the van's frame shifted as Jack crawled back in.

"Alright brother. Your turn." He announced. He recognized the look on his partner's face. It was one that meant the young man was moments away from losing grip on the panic he was pushing down. "Hey. Take a breath. You're fine. I'm right here, okay? I didn't leave."

Mac nodded as he handed Jack back his phone. "I didn't even tear it up this time."

Jack grinned. "This time. There'll be plenty time for you to break this one later. Gotta get you out of here first though, right?" Jack started carefully tugging on the metal that was trapping Mac in his seat, the blonde man hissing as the movements caused the piece pinning his legs down to cut further into his ankles.

"Sorry. I'm sorry bud." Jack mumbled automatically. "Alright, this piece first." He declared, not wanting to cause the younger man any more pain. "I'm gonna lift it up and you move your legs out of the way. Can you do that for me?" Mac nodded and on Jack's count, his legs were free.

"Half way there." Jack said with a smile. "Legs feel okay? I don't have two of y'all with busted up legs do I?"

"Feel fine." Mac assured. "Cage…"

"Is a grown woman who can handle a broken leg." Jack interrupted. "We're worryin' about you at the moment. Let's get you outta here." 

"Kay." Mac nodded, the appeal of no longer being confined in the tiny space outweighed his worry about the newest member of their team.

"You sure your arms are good? I'm gonna need you to pull yourself out of the way while I lift this." Jack asked.

"I'm good." Mac answered. "Get me out of this thing."

Jack met his partner's eyes, ensuring that he was ready, before taking a breath and heaving the heavy metal bar upward. Mac rolled sideways, ignoring the pain and the clang of metal as Jack dropped the piece down once he was out of the way. Mac quickly crawled out of the van, his partner right behind him.

For the second time that day, Mac found himself collapsing onto the hard pavement.

Jack let out a half-crazed laugh as he sat down on the ground beside the younger man. "You hear that?" He asked, pointing out the sirens blaring in the distance. "Of course they show up once I do all the hard work."

 **Part Four**

"I still think we should go check on Cage." Mac said, not for the first time since leaving the Phoenix headquarters.

"She's fine." Jack reminded his partner, fighting back an eye roll. "Maddy's gonna call us when she's released."

"You'd be there if it was Riley or Bozer." Mac mumbled under his breath.

"Not true." Jack argued, an accusatory finger coming up and pointing at the young man in the passenger seat. "Not if it came down to bein' there or making sure you get home safe and sound. You come first in my book. Every damn time. And besides," Jack broke the heartfelt speech with a chuckle. "I'm beat. This," Jack said as stopped at the last red light before turning onto Mac's street. "Has been the longest day of my life."

"And you weren't running off jet lag and captured by a murderous psychopath." Mac pointed out.

"No," Jack agreed. "You were. And that made it a million times worse."

Mac smiled but said nothing, knowing that if the roles were reversed he would feel the same way. They rode in silence the rest of the way home.

When Jack finally pulled into the driveway, for the second time that day, and shut the car off, Mac made no move to go into the house.

"You know you're more than welcome to crash at my place." Jack pointed out, not for the first time since Maddy had ordered them to go home and get some rest, leaving her, Riley, and Bozer to work on tracking Murdoc. "For as long as you need."

Mac shook his head. "I'm fine. You don't even have to stay."

"I'm not lettin' you out of my sight." Jack reminded him.

"Okay." Mac took a deep breath and reached for the door handle. "Let's go."

They made their way slowly up the drive, the aches and pains from all of the day's ordeals finally catching up with them. Mac was fine until Jack took out his spare key and opened the door. He stood staring at the spot on the floor where Jack assumed he had fallen when Murdoc's goons had attacked him.

"Hey. Mac. Look at me." Jack ordered. It took him saying his partner's name two more times and a hand placed on his shoulder before he broke through Mac's trance. "You're safe." He promised.

"Twice." Mac answered, voice hoarse. "Twice now he's been here, in my house."

"You said it. Right there." Jack said, desperate to stop Mac's downward spiral in it's tracks. "YOUR house. This is your home, Mac."

"Doesn't feel like it at the moment." Mac admitted

"Don't do that. Don't let him take this from you." Jack put both his hands on Mac's shoulders and turned the young man to look him in the eye. "Don't give him the power to do that."

Mac nodded, letting Jack's words sink in as he turned away from his partner and gave his home a slow look. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "You're right."

"Course I am." Jack answered with a smirk. "I'm always right."

"You're not." Mac said as he headed towards the kitchen, noticing the puddle of water still on the floor from the defrosted fridge. It felt as though weeks had passed since he first promised Jack a warm beer from that very fridge rather than a few hours. "But you're right when it really matters."

"You know, if you don't wanna be in here we can head out on the deck." Jack offered. "Light a fire, drink some of those warm beers. Even bust out the sleepin' bags, try to find some stars through all this smog and city lights."

"Sure." Mac agreed. "But we don't have to sleep out there. I've gotta deal with this sooner or later. Might as well face it now."

"While I'm here." Jack added.

"Right." Mac said with a smile. "Cause I'm not getting rid of you for a while am I?"

"Nope." Jack promised as he pulled a six pack from the dripping fridge. "Not now, not ever."

 **Alright y'all. This ended up being WAY longer than I planned on it being. It kinda got away from me. But I had the day off and it was raining and I had the house to myself (well, me and Cairo, but dogs make pretty great writing partners) and apparently that's the perfect setting to write in. And now that this is done I can go read all the other tags to this ep that have been posted! I don't read any if I have plans of writing my own so I I have been waiting to read all of them! So excited!**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. SkullElectromagnet

**Hey y'all! When I first started this story last week I had no intention of posting a tag to every single episode. I thought I would do a new chapter every month or so, whenever I had some spare time or an episode just really left me needing more. I mean, I think I only did two tags for the entire first season. But come on. Jack was SHOT. We're just gonna pretend like that didn't happen?! Not this girl. I wasn't thrilled about writing this simply because I did a fic with Mac being shot in the shoulder a few months ago so I'm a little worried that this is going to be repetitive. If so, sorry. I wasn't gonna pass up the chance to whump on Jack a little.**

 **Part One**

"Maddy says our plane's ready to head out whenever we are." Mac announced pocketing his phone, turning down the volume on his screaming ringtone. They had all had enough scares on the island for a while.

"Yeah, as soon as we get Jack checked out." Riley reminded the group, eyes taking note of the odd way the older man was still holding his arm.

"Naw. Jack's fine." Jack insisted "Let's get home."

"Man, you're bleeding." Bozer pointed out. "For reals this time. And a ton of medics showed up with the rescue team. Go get checked out."

"Do you see a single one of those medics who isn't already takin' care of someone who's in worse shape than me?" Jack asked. "A little through-n-through to the shoulder is nothin' compared to what those boys have been through. I'm fine. We're going home. End of story." Jack declared, walking off stiffly towards their plane.

Mac and Riley exchanged a look quickly determining that Mac would be the one to go after Jack. "Get me a first aid kit." He said softly under his breath and Cage quickly took off to the closest medic.

"Hey." Mac said softly once he had jogged a few steps to catch up to his partner. "Slow down for a second." He laid a careful hand on the man's uninjured shoulder and turned him around to face him.

Jack closed his eyes for a beat before speaking. "Mac, I want off this damn island."

"I know." Mac said. "I do too. We all do. And we're going." He promised. "Just, let me check you over at least. We don't have to bother a medic, don't have to stick around here any longer than necessary. But it's a long way home and you gotta let me make sure you're safe to fly."

"I'm good." Jack assured, but Mac knew him well enough to see the fight draining from his eyes.

"Prove it." Mac challenged. "Let me see for myself and we can head home."

Jack sighed and Mac knew he had won just as Cage made her way closer to the two men. "First aid kit." She announced, handing the white box to Mac. "And a clean shirt." She laid a folded piece of grey fabric on top. "One of the rescue guys asked if you needed one. Thought it couldn't hurt, what with the bullet hole and crawling around in the dust after that fall."

Jack huffed a laugh, wincing as it pulled on his aching… everything. "Which fall?"

"What do you mean 'which fall'?" Mac asked, turning back towards his partner. "What didn't you tell me?"

"When that crazy chick shot me. I, uh, kinda fell off the cliff." Jack admitted.

"And on that note, I'm going to go see if Bozer, Riley, and I can help out. We'll be, anywhere but here." Cage said, wisely leaving the two men alone.

"You fell from a cliff." Mac repeated.

"Technically I was shot off of a cliff." Jack corrected. "Which is way more badass."

"Sit." Mac ordered, walking to a nearby truck and dropping the tailgate, opening the medical kit on the makeshift bench and waiting for his partner to comply. "Sooner you let me get a look at that shoulder the sooner we can leave." He reminded.

Jack sat down with a sigh that failed to hide a grunt of pain.

Mac pulled a pair of scissors out of the well-stocked box. "You care if I just cut that shirt off? Since Cage got you a new one?" He asked.

"Whatever floats your boat, kid." Jack said with a smirk as Mac began to cut up the back of his shirt. When his partner let out a harsh breath, Jack knew that the bruises spanning his back were as visible as they were painful.

"Damn, Jack." Mac exclaimed quietly, fingers gently exploring the array of bruises. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Jack went to shrug his shoulders but caught himself before he moved in a way that he was sure to regret. "I don't know, man, nothin' you could do about it. No point in complaining. You were findin' a way to get me out the first time. And then I was a little too distracted by the bullet hole to worry about some bruises. I made sure nothin' was broken and I kept goin'. You know how I get when the adrenaline gets pumping."

"You sure nothing's broken?" Mac asked, trailing fingers across his partner's ribcage.

"Yes. I'm sure." Jack insisted, using his uninjured arm to slap away Mac's probing hand. "And we look with our eyes, not our bony little fingers."

Mac rolled his eyes but dropped his hands anyway.

"Now take a look at that GSW so you can see that it's fine and everyone can stop freaking out about it. Slap on a bandaid and let's get outta here."

"Okay, one: Everyone is 'freaking out' as you called it, because someone they care about was just shot. Concern isn't a bad thing. Two: It's gonna take more than a bandaid." Mac pointed out as he began wiping away the blood running down his partner's arm.

"Come on, Mac." Jack complained. "Hurry it up."

"I'm going as fast as I can." Mac assured as he drenched a handful of cotton gauze in rubbing alcohol.

"Aw come on, man." Jack whined upon seeing what his partner was planning. "That's gonna hurt like hell. Haven't I been through enough in the past few hours?" 

"Guilt trips won't work with me." Mac reminded him. "You should know that by now. And besides, if the roles were reversed you would do the same to me."

"Would not." Jack grumbled in a perfect imitation of a four year old.

"Really?" Mac asked with a smile.

"Naw, I'd be draggin' your skinny butt over to those medics." Jack admitted.

"Which you didn't want." Mac pointed out. "You can't have it both ways."

"Well you could leave all the medical stuff to the docs when we get back to Phoenix." Jack tried again.

"Not a chance." Mac said as he placed a reassuring hand on Jack's shoulder. "Deep breath." Mac began quickly cleaning out the injury as best he could before the older man had a chance to exhale. He heard a low growl coming from his partner's throat and he spared a second to glance away from his task, noting Jack's clenched fist and tightly closed eyes. He quickly repeated the process on the exit would before removing both his hands, giving Jack a moment to regain his composure.

"You good?" He asked softly after a few moments had passed.

"Will be once the world stops spinnin'. Damn did that suck." Jack declared.

"If you're dizzy open your eyes." Mac said as he opened two new bandages and began digging through the medical supplies for tape.

"Seriously?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, It'll help Just find something and lock onto it. Focus on one thing and the rest will stop spinning." Mac promised as he began covering his partner's wound. "Better?" He asked before he moved onto the back of Jack's shoulder.

"Yeah." Jack breathed out the word slowly. "I'm alright. You done?"

"Just about." Mac assured, careful not to press the tape down too hard on Jack's bruised skin. "There. That should hold until we get home." He reached over to where he had tossed the new shirt and pulled it over his partner's head without giving him time to argue about doing it himself. "But no complaining about getting checked over by an actual medical professional when we get there."

"Deal." Jack agreed, slipping his good arm through the shirt sleeve and letting Mac help him with the other side. "Long as I'm good to go for Halloween night."

Mac smiled. "I don't think that'll be a problem." He closed the lid on the first aid kit and offered his partner a hand off the tailgate.

"Good." Jack said as they made their way back to the rest of their team. "Cause after this damn island, man, it's time for us to do the spooking."

 **Part Two**

When Jack woke up he was warm. Not the suffocating warmth that meant he had been so exhausted that he fell asleep before changing out of his work clothes, or the pleasant warmth that came from waking up in a bed with another person after spending a fun night together. This was the kind of warmth that came from pharmaceuticals; good, sleep inducing, hospital-issued-only drugs. Which meant he was hurt.

He tried to ignore that small piece of information, to float happily in his state of pain free denial, but his partner's face flashed through his mind, sending a shockwave of adrenaline through his system. If he was hurt maybe Mac was too.

He struggled against the pull of sleep, trying to pry his eyes open. A weight fell on his forearm, a hand, soothing and familiar. Then a voice broke through the haze. "Easy, Jack. You're alright." His eyes finally opened and brown met blue. Mac.

"We're in the infirmary." Mac continued. "Safe and sound. Back home."

"You good?" Jack asked once he found his voice.

Mac laughed. "I'm fine." He assured. "I'm not the one who took two falls and a bullet."

"Oh. Yeah. That sucked." Jack replied, the events of the island coming back to him in a flash. He tested the grip of the hand on his uninjured arm, the one Mac's hand was still resting on, and found an IV line in the back of his hand as his fingers twisted into the medical grade bed sheet. "Why'm I still here?"

"You're alright." Mac repeated. "They patched up your shoulder, checked you over to make sure you hadn't missed any broken bones. Bullet didn't hit anything vital. You're bruised to hell but you're lucky. That's just some antibiotics." He assured, knowing that Jack was really asking how much longer he had to keep the needle in his hand. "With a shot of the good stuff. As soon as that pumps through you we can head home."

Jack nodded slowly, eyes trailing the IV line up to the almost empty bag hanging above the bed. "Looks about done."

"Yeah we've been here for a few hours." Mac said, glancing at the watch that Jack still wasn't used to his partner wearing. "I sent everyone else home. Well, home to shower and then out to buy the candy for tomorrow night. Didn't think you would want to wake up to an audience."

"Good call." Jack agreed, appreciating that since he was here with just Mac he didn't have to hide his face grimacing in pain as he struggled to sit up. "Damn, I'm sore. Even with the drugs."

"Careful." Mac warned as he helped Jack up. "You're gonna be hurting for a while."

Jack's pained face broke into a random smile at his partner's words.

"How is that funny?" Mac asked.

"It's not. I was just thinkin' bout that island. When I asked ya if you got the powers of a mystical wizard." Jack said quickly, his words coming out in a continuous stream like they did when he got excited about something.

"Yeah…?" Mac asked, not knowing where his partner's ideas were headed.

"Well then I got to thinking about how I'm gonna be walking like a tin man for a few days." Jack's grin widened. "If we've got a tin man and a wizard…"

Mac laughed, putting the pieces together. "I'm in. Better call Bozer, tell him to get started on the costumes."

 **Part Three**

In the end it was Maddy who noticed, something that Mac felt terribly guilty about later, that the haunted house full of a steady stream of trick or treaters was taking it's toll on the oldest member of their team. They were all gathered in the kitchen, taking advantage of the break in the visitors and shoveling down the Halloween-themed treats Bozer had crafted earlier that day, when Maddy stood up. "Alright gang. It's been fun but I'm headed home. Blondie, walk me out." She gave Mac a pointed look and nodded towards the door.

"Not sure if you've noticed," She began once the front door had shut behind them "But I think Dalton's about done in for the evening."

Mac glanced back worriedly, as if he could see through the walls into the kitchen where his partner was. "I know he's not wearing the sling but he promised me he'd take a break if he got to hurting." Mac said.

"You and I both know that he can get carried away." Maddy reminded the young man. "And as long as everyone is having a good time he's not gonna stop. He won't want to feel like he ended the fun for the rest of you."

Mac nodded, knowing that Maddy was right and mentally kicking himself for not seeing it first.

"I'm not here as your boss. I'm not telling you what to do." Maddy said. "I'm here as a friend, yours and his, asking you to keep an eye on him."

Mac's eyes glanced up as he heard voices, seeing a group of little zombies headed his way. He smiled, opening the door and grabbing the closest bowl of candy. "Hey guys." He said as he walked down the driveway to the trick or treaters. "Great costumes." He divided the candy into the three buckets as the kids held them out. "That's the last of it, alright? So if you see any more kids coming this way tell 'em we are all out of candy. Happy Halloween!" He called as the children ran off on the hunt for more houses.

"I'll take care of him." Mac assured Maddy, tucking the empty bowl under his arm.

"I know." She answered with a smile as she turned on her heel and left.

Mac returned to the kitchen, making a point to keep an eye on Jack. The older man wasn't eating as much as normal, he noticed. There were still mummy pigs in a blanket left on a platter on the counter and Jack would have devoured those first thing on a good day.

"It's been, what guys, like half an hour since we've had a trick or treater?" Mac asked, not mentioning the three he had stopped in the drive. "Looks like the evening's about done."

"It's so early." Cage said, glancing at the stove clock.

"Yeah, I did not spend all night last night putting together these badass costumes for nobody to see them." Bozer added.

"What about that party we went to last year?" Riley asked. "At Penny's? Didn't you say that was an annual thing?"

"It is." Mac said quickly, wondering why he hadn't thought of that earlier.

"What do you say, Cage?" Bozer asked. "You up for your first LA Halloween party?"

"Sure." She agreed with a shrug.

"Y'all are in too, right?" Bozer asked, turning to Mac and Jack.

"I think I better stay here. Just incase any more kids show up." Mac said, giving his partner an easy out.

"I'll keep you company." Jack added, gratefully taking the bait.

"You sure Jack?" Bozer asked. "You had a great time last year. Remember those orange jello shots…"

"Boze." Riley interrupted, having caught onto what Mac was trying to do. "Let's go show off these costumes."

"Alright." Bozer agreed, grabbing his keys, not quite catching on but recognizing the tone of Riley's voice as one he didn't want to mess with.

"Tell Penny we said hello." Mac called out as they left, sending Riley a nod of thanks as she closed the door behind them.

"I saw what you did there." Jack said once they were alone. "Thanks, but you didn't have to. I'm fine."

Mac smirked. "We've been going for a few hours. Figured your shoulder would be starting to hurt by now."

"No more than the rest of me." Jack admitted, carefully rolling the injured shoulder with a wince.

"Showers, get out of these costumes, and watch some scary movies?" Mac asked.

"Sounds like a plan." Jack agreed with a smile. "We can eat the rest of that candy you told those kids we were out of."

"How'd you…?" Mac started.

"Let's just call it a Halloween trick and leave it at that." Jack chuckled as he headed towards the guest bathroom.

"Oh. Hey," Mac called out. "You may wanna change into this." He handed Jack a cardboard package that had arrived in the mail earlier that morning.

"What is it?" Jack asked, tearing through the packing tape with a smile. "You know you're supposed to give gifts at Christmas, right? Not Halloween?"

Mac didn't answer, just watched as his partner finally opened the box and pulled out the piece of white fabric.

"Its my shirt!" Jack exclaimed upon seeing the Metallica logo.

"Well, it's a new one." Mac corrected. "But yeah. I felt bad about you getting blood all over the last one."

"Thanks man!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his good arm over Mac's shoulders in a hug. "Where'd you even find this?"

"Online." Mac shrugged. "I had to do something while I was waiting for you to wake up back in the infirmary. Now go get changed." He said with a smile. "You're getting silver body paint all over me." Jack laughed and headed down the hallway.

"And there better be a sling covering up that band logo when you're done!" Mac called out.

 **Not sure why this fic focused so much on Jack's shirts. Oh well. That episode, while great, left a lot of holes to be filled. Hopefully this did that a little. Thoughts?**


	3. CD-RomHoagie Foil

**Hey y'all! I almost didn't post this because I don't like rewriting original scenes. I'll add to them, but I don't like changing things. I don't like Cage but she does add a unique skill set to the team and I'm really starting to enjoy her scenes with Riley, I think they play off each other really well. But for this show to last they have got to stop robbing us of these Mac and Jack moments! No way was Jack not there waiting at the hospital! So I fixed it, while still keeping a Mac and Cage moment that the writers seem to find so necessary. *rolls eyes* But that line about the loyalty program and free kidney was funny so I didn't mind keeping it. I just cut down her time with Mac, made him enjoy her presence less, and added Jack.**

Jack took in an automatic deep breath as he and Cage helped Mac cross the threshold of the now-kicked-in door, taking a brief moment to appreciate the fresh, uncontaminated air as if he had been the one exposed to the toxic nerve gas instead of his partner. He would have traded places with the younger man in a heartbeat, of course, had that been an option, but apparently the universe had decided that it was time to beat up on Mac for a turn.

"Alright, bud. Let's sit down for a minute, huh?" He said, catching Cage's eye and nodding toward a relatively out of the way blank spot of brick wall that Mac could lean against. "You and I can wait right here, Cage'll go bring the car 'round for us." She took off without a word as soon as Mac was safely sitting on the ground. 

"Okay." Jack said as he knelt down infront of Mac, keeping a steadying hand on his shoulder. "You said eighteen, right? Eighteen hours? What's the play then? Hospital obviously, but do I get you to the nearest one or do we book it back to Phoenix?"

"Um…" Mac started, lifting a shaking hand to rub at his eyes, trying to quell the headache he could already feel forming. "I don't…"

"Mac, it's your call." Matty's voice came through their earpieces. "I think we would all feel a little better if you were back here with a medical staff that we all know and trust but that's a cross-country flight away. If you don't feel up to that just say the word and I'll start making some calls to a facility closer to your current location."

Jack could see the wheels turning behind his partner's blue eyes as he quickly worked out how long it would take them to get home and, more importantly, how close that would be cutting it to the eighteen hour mark. "It should be fine timewise." Mac said finally, nodding to himself as he double checked his math. "Yeah. They're gonna want me to stay for observation at least overnight." He paused, just saying those few words had left him breathless. "I'd rather be home."

"You really wanna head back to LA?" Jack asked, not exactly thrilled with the blonde's decision. "It's gonna be a pretty long flight, even with our big fancy jet. And you're only gonna feel worse the longer we wait." He pointed out.

"Yeah. Well aware of that, Jack. Thanks." Mac said with a sigh as he let his head fall back against the brick wall. "Feeling it already. Just, would rather be closer to home."

"Alright, alright." Jack agreed, feeling bad for pressing the issue. "We'll do whatever you want as long as you know what you're in for." Mac nodded, sending Jack a faint smile that the pain didn't quite let reach his eyes. "But you gotta let me check out that leg on the plane." Jack added. "Goin' around stabbing yourself with scissors. You're determined to make me go gray before my time aren't ya?"

"I'm not the one who called you 'gramps' earlier." Mac pointed out.

"True. But speakin' of that punk kid, there's Cage in his car now." He said with a sigh of relief as she pulled the car as close to the building as possible. "C'mon. Let's get you home, pal." He slowly helped Mac to his feet as he talked, knowing that Mac relied on his steady stream of rambling to deal with the pain.

"Long ways to go before I can actually go home." Mac huffed as he let Jack take his weight, keeping pressure off his injured leg.

"One step at a time." Jack agreed, not looking forward to the long plane ride ahead of them or the hospital stay that was sure to follow. "But hey, at least I'll be there with ya, right?"

Mac smiled despite the spots that were slowly beginning to cloud his vision, he hoped they were just because of the pain moving caused and not a side effect of the VX already making itself known.

He didn't remember much of his trip back to LA after that, just bits and pieces of a journey that felt never ending. Jack, in a rare move, sitting in the backseat of the car with him, the older man yelling for Cage to drive faster. A video call to a frantic Bozer where Mac was pretty sure his attempts at assuring his friend that he would be fine did more harm than good. A persistent cough that got progressively worse the more fluid his lungs took on. Sweating bullets one minute and freezing cold the next. Nausea that flared up at any slight movement and sporadic muscle spasms that brought tears to his eyes. All topped off with a pounding headache bad enough that he spent the last leg of their flight on his side with his head on Jack's lap, face buried in the older man's shirt.

Mac was glad he couldn't remember all the details. Jack on the other hand, had nearly two hours of pacing the length of the waiting room in Phoenix's medical center, reliving every moment of watching his friend suffer and not being able to fix it.

Riley showed up at some point, carrying a sandwich from Jack's favorite food truck and a bottle of water. He ate without tasting the food, but her update on Matty and Cage's interrogation of the men they took in at the water treatment plant distracted him until a doctor finally came in to tell him that, with time, Mac would be fine. Overnight observation, as Mac had predicted, was required and he would be dealing with the headache, muscle spasms, and shortness of breath for the next few days, but there was no reason for him to not make a full recovery. Jack was making his way down the hallway towards his partner's curtained off room before the doctor was finished talking.

Waking up in a hospital is never a pleasant experience. It was one, however, that Mac had unfortunately grown used to in his years working for Phoenix. He didn't allow himself the luxury of dwelling in the happy, pain free, almost asleep state, though. As the memories of the nerve gas came flooding back, his eyes opened to find Samantha Cage, weirdly enough, sitting at his bedside. He didn't have the energy yet to ask all the questions that were flooding his brain, all that his voice would get out was a raspy "Hey." Which she quickly shot back with a smile, not seeming to find her position in his hospital room nearly as odd as he did.

"You seem to be making quite a habit of ending up here." She added, her posture in the hard plastic chair, that Mac knew from experience was incredibly uncomfortable, was perfect, her well-trained eyes scanning his face, making his already prone position feel even more vulnerable. Mac found himself fiercely missing Jack in that moment. His booming voice that, no matter how hard he tried to quiet, could never quite reach a hospital-appropriate whisper. How he was always ready with a cup of ice water, the straw bent at an angle so Mac wouldn't have to lift his head to drink. The constant stream of physical contact; a hand on a shoulder or gently gripping the back of his neck, blunt nails carding through locks of hair, a thumb ghosting gently across knuckles.

"I should see if they have some kind of loyalty program." Mac joked. "I'm like, two punches away from a free kidney." He was almost grateful for the sudden muscle spasm that sent him curling away from Cage in pain. It was enough of a distraction that there was no awkward silence after his joke fell short. _Jack would have appreciated it._ Mac thought almost bitterly. It was enough, though, to make him finally ask the main question that had been running through his mind since he woke up. "Not to sound rude, or anything, but where's Jack?"

Cage smiled. "He's actually going to be really pissed that you woke up when you did." She continued upon seeing Mac's confusion. "He just left, maybe thirty seconds before you woke up. Went to find some coffee."

"Coffee?" Mac asked. "How long have I been out? He doesn't usually drink…" His voice trailed off as he glanced down at his now bare wrist, expecting to find the watch there that he had grown so accustomed to wearing.

"Jack has your watch." Cage assured, not failing to follow Mac's train of thought. "And you've been asleep for a few hours. On top of the two hours that you were being checked over and treated. Long enough for Chandra and her entire team to be taken into custody."

"That's good." Mac smiled, at least his near-death hadn't been for nothing.

"Yeah," Cage continued. "Maddy and I…" She was cut off by her cell phone ringing. "That's actually her now." She said, glancing down at the phone she had pulled from her pocket. "I should take this."

"Go. It's fine." Mac assured.

"I'll find Jack. Send him your way before I head down to the war room." She assured, standing up and not taking her eyes away from her phone. "I'm glad you're feeling better." She added almost as an afterthought, before pushing her way through the curtained partition.

Moments later, not long enough for Mac to fall back asleep as badly as his pounding head wanted him to, he heard the unmistakable sound of his partner's boots quickly making their way down the quiet medical ward hallway.

"One minute." Jack exclaimed as he burst through the curtain and laid eyes on his now conscious partner. "I leave for one minute to talk the nurses into sneaking me some of the halfway decent coffee from their break lounge instead of that sludge they have in the waiting room, and you have to go and wake up for the pretty blonde girl the second I leave."

"Hello to you to." Mac said with a soft laugh.

The older man paused, an authentic Jack Dalton grin breaking through the stress and worry on his face. He quickly set the cup of still steaming coffee down on Mac's bedside table and wrapped his partner in a careful hug. "Hey, brother."

Mac pressed his face into the space between Jack's neck and shoulder, inhaling the familiar scent of gunpowder and safety, leather and home, that was so distinctly Jack. The scent of the one person who could immediately right his world no matter how far it had fallen off it's axis.

Jack held on a beat longer before pulling out of the hug, keeping a warm hand on the side of Mac's neck, thumb over the pulse point, needing the physical contact to assure himself that his partner was safe as much as Mac needed it in that moment.

"Damn is it good to see you awake." Jack sighed. "You feelin' alright? You look better."

"'M good." Mac assured hoarsely. "Just tired and sore. Really sore." He quickly added upon seeing his partner shoot him a glare that told him it would be a bad idea to try to downplay his injuries after everything they had been through in the past twelve hours. "But, I mean, I'm alive."

Jack nodded. "It's a good thing too. If you weren't I'd have to kill you myself." He said with a wink.

"That doesn't even make sense, Jack." Mac said with mock exasperation, thankful that he was still around to listen to his partner's lame jokes.

"Hey now, it's like I said earlier. Gettin' you all riled up about stuff like that relaxes me. And man, do I need some stress relief after that plane ride, man." Jack said, shaking his head quickly as if trying to shake the memories out of his brain.

"Sorry about that." Mac apologized, his hand pulling at a loose thread on the blanket right beside the self-inflicted stab wound.

"Hey don't worry about it." Jac assured, as he pulled his hand away from Mac's neck and reaching for his coffee, sitting down on the bed at Mac's hip. Their normal banter had finally convinced him that his partner was well enough for his worry meter, which had been registering at Full Blown Panic, to slip down a few notches to just Overly Concerned. "Not your fault. I mean, don't get me wrong, it totally was your fault. Completely." Mac grinned and rolled his eyes. "But I get why you did it. Cage told ya that the plan actually worked?"

"Yeah, she told me." Mac reached out a hand to nudge his partner's leg. "So this wasn't for nothing."

"Well for the record, I'm not a fan of that plan. And it's over. Still don't like it." Jack grumbled. "Next time I say a mission is too easy, I want you to punch me and tell me to stick to my original idea of hopping on one leg to up the difficulty level."

"You don't like any plan unless you're the only one who has any chance of being put in harm's way." Mac reminded his partner.

"Damn right." Jack agreed easily.

Mac smiled before failing to fight back a yawn. "Hey thanks, by the way. Cage said you were keeping ahold of the watch for me."

"Right here." Jack promised, patting his front shirt pocket. "Safe and sound. Oh! Speaking of," Jack opened the drawer of the standard hospital bedside table. "Jill stopped by to check on you. Dropped this off." He pulled out the roll of film, a neatly folded piece of paper on top.

Mac's eyes lit up and he reached out a hand for the long awaited delivery.

"Later." Jack promised, setting the small box down, on top of the table this time, so it would stay in Mac's line of sight. "You can't do anything with it until you get out of here anyway so leave it alone and get some rest."

Mac sighed but gave in. "Kay." If the idea of sleep hadn't been such an appealing one Mac would have argued, but he didn't even have the energy left to argue for a compromise, for Jack to at least let him read the note Jill had left. He closed his eyes.

"Hey, Mac?" Jack's voice broke through his near-sleep haze, a gentle hand coming to rest on his forearm.

"Mmhmm?" Mac asked, not bothering to form actual words.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here." Jack said, finally voicing the guilt he had felt since Cage had found him in the hallway and told him Mac was awake. "When you woke up. I left you to wake up to Cage, instead of your partner, after everything you had just gone through. That wasn't cool."

"'S okay." Mac assured without the strength to open his eyes.

"It's not." Jack pressed on. "I mean, Cage is alright I guess, and whatever, but when the roles are reversed you're always there for me. I'm supposed to be…" His voice trailed off as he glanced down at Mac's face. "Sorry. I'll shut up and let ya sleep."

"You're here now." Mac pointed out.

"Yeah, buddy." Jack agreed with a small smile. "I'm here now. Not goin' anywhere."

The guilt in Jack's voice didn't sit right with Mac. "We good?" He asked, wondering if he needed to crawl back fully into the land of consciousness to check on his partner.

"Yeah. We're good." Jack promised. "Get some sleep."

Mac nodded slowly against his pillow, sinking further into the blankets. After a few moments, long after Jack assumed the younger man had fallen asleep, his voice broke through the silence. "For future reference, I like you being here way more than her." His voice gave way to soft snores before he had a chance to hear Jack's reply.

"Sleep tight, kid." Jack said, as he brushed a stray piece of blonde hair off Mac's forehead and gave himself an excuse to not-so-subtly check for any trace of a fever. "I'll be right here when you wake up next time. Promise."

 **Well, so there's that. It got REAL fluffy on me, so sorry if that's not your thing. If it is, then you're welcome! Thoughts?**


	4. War Room Ship

**Couldn't let that ep go without one more little Mac and Jack scene. I'm not usually the best at emotional hurt/comfort, I actually don't think I've written any of it for this fandom, so it may not even be worth reading. It's shorter than usual, too, cause some family stuff, the holidays, and finals all hit at the same time, but I ended up really liking this one.**

Mac sighed as he heard the sound of boots stomping their way across his floor, intentionally loud; Jack's way of giving him a heads up that he had completely ignored Mac when he insisted that he didn't want company tonight. He wasn't sure how long it had been since Matty had left, it might have just been minutes but hours could have passed since she had finally walked away, giving his hand a quick squeeze and instructing him to take the next few days off work. He still hadn't moved.

"I already told Matty. I don't want to talk, Jack." Mac said once he heard the back door open, not bothering to turn away from the LA lights.

"Well now, for starters," Jack began as he made himself at home in one of the wooden chairs on the deck. "I ain't Matty. And besides, who said anything about talkin'?"

"I'm not drinking either." Mac warned.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Jack assured. "You're one of those weird guys who refuses to numb their pain with alcohol. Likes to wallow in their misery sober. Which is why I didn't stop for beer, just showed up empty handed. Not even a six pack. Well, I mean, except for the one under this here shirt. But I can't very well get rid of that, there'd be too many heartbroken women around the world." Jack joked.

Mac huffed a quiet laugh and finally turned around to face his partner with an eyeroll.

"There he is." Jack said with a smile.

"Matty called you?" Mac accused, crossing his arms.

"Riley, actually." Jack said. "But don't be mad, I'm glad she did. You don't need to be alone right now."

"I'm fine Jack." Mac said, moving to turn back away from his partner. He heard the sound of the patio chair scraping against the deck's floorboards and felt Jack's hand land on his shoulder a breath later.

"Don't do this to yourself, Mac." Jack said, voice tight. "Don't shut me out."

"I'm not shutting you or anyone else out, Jack!" Mac said, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "I just don't want to talk right now."

"Well I'm not leavin'." Jack insisted. "So you might as well come over here and sit down."

Mac recognized Jack's tone of voice, it was the no arguments one that meant business. He didn't have the energy to argue about it so he walked across the deck and dropped into the chair beside Jack's with a sigh. "Happy?"

Jack didn't bother with a response, just sat down beside his partner and propped his feet up on the empty fire pit. " I say we light a fire if we're gonna stay out here. It's cold tonight."

"Zoe was cold." Mac said his voice angry, volume rising with every word. "When she was drowning, in sub-zero Arctic water. It was colder than she ever imagined anything being. She said that. And she died in it. Because I couldn't save her, Jack." Mac's voice broke on his partner's name and wiped away a lone angry tear that had escaped.

Jack waited calmly, unphased by Mac's sudden outburst, giving the younger man time to take a few steadying breaths before breaking the silence. "Zoe, huh?" He asked softly. "That was her name?"

Mac nodded, staring intensely at a spot just past Jack's shoulder, not making eye contact but drawing comfort from having his partner, his rock, in his peripheral vision. He smiled sadly, memories of the young woman he had barely known racing through his mind.

"I wish I could have met her." Jack continued.

"You should've." Mac said softly. "I actually asked her to come take a tour of Peoenix when she got back home. But she never made it."

"What, like a date?" Jack asked, failing to hide his proud smile.

"No." Mac insisted, but his eyes met Jack's, looking up shyly through long lashes. "But the ice cream we were going to get after might have been."

Jack bit back a grimace at the new information. What they did was more than just a job to Mac, and while casualties in the field were inevitable, Mac took it hard whenever they lost someone. Losing someone he may have had feelings for, no matter how new those feelings were, was a particularly bad hand his partner had been dealt.

"Alright." Jack said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "Do I need to start from the bottom and tell you that her death wasn't your fault or do you already know that?"

"If I could have just…" Mac began but Jack cut him off quickly.

"What? If you could have what, Mac? Cause everyone I have talked to said you did everything, every damn thing, possible to save that girl." He insisted.

"There had to be something." Mac whispered, talking more to himself than Jack. "If I had more time, or there could have been some spare tools on the ship that they didn't find, a junk drawer with something I could have used."

"You know what my dad used to say whenever he would hear someone talkin' like that? Going on and on about what they didn't do or what they would do different if they could go back in time?" Jack asked, trying to bring Mac out of his own head. "He would tell 'em to stop living in the World of If Only. If only I'd done this, If only I'd gone there, If only I'd kissed her. Pops knew what he was talkin' about, kid. You can't live your life like that."

"Yeah well Zoe can't live her's at all now. Because of me." Mac replied, eyes staring blankly at the LA skyline again.

"Mac you didn't kill her." Jack insisted.

"Well I didn't save her either." Mac said, his tight voice making it clear that he was falling deeper into his grief-driven downward spiral.

Jack turned to a different approach. "What was the mission?" He asked suddenly.

"What?" Mac asked, turning his head to look at Jack.

"The mission." Jack pressed on. "The exact job? What were you supposed to do?"

"Find a way to repair the damage to the ship, using the items available, that would hold until a rescue ship could reach where they were stranded and save the thirty-two people onboard." He replied automatically.

"And?" Jack asked.

"And I failed." Mac said. "Because instead they brought home thirty-one."

"You know anyone else who could have done what you did?" Jack asked. "Who could have fixed the generator, stopped multiple fires on a boat, built an air purifier. You know anyone else who could have found a way to buy those kids enough time to get home? Cause I don't."

"What's your point, Jack?" Mac asked with a defeated sigh.

"My point is that if you hadn't done all those things, Mac, every one of those people on that boat would be dead right now." He paused, reaching out to rest a hand on Mac's knee. "Including Zoe."

Mac stayed silent but Jack could see the wheels turning behind Mac's blue eyes, assessing his partner's words. Jack continued. "You gotta take a step back and look at the whole picture, bud. You brought thirty-one people home. Thirty-one people who would be dead right now if it weren't for you. That's what, sixty-two parents? Who have their kids home now, safe and sound. You didn't fail, Mac."

"Sure feels like it." Mac said, his voice hoarse.

"Look, I know you take it a lot harder than I do when the mission doesn't go as planned and we can't save everybody. It always gets to you more than me." There's nothing wrong with that, he quickly added. "Hell, sometimes it scares me how easy it is for me to write off losing a civilian life. The way I see it, at the end of our career, when someone sits down and tallies up all our stats, as long as we saved more people than we lost then we did our job."

"I can't look it like that." Mac said, standing up suddenly and walking back to the balcony, the overhang of the deck's roof suddenly feeling suffocatingly oppressive.

"I know you can't." Jack answered, staying seated and giving Mac his space despite how badly he wanted to follow the younger man. "And that's fine. Like I said, you're grieving process is probably way healthier than my lack of. But this one's hittin' you even harder than normal and that's worrying me."

"It is." Mac admitted. "You're not wrong."

"Why is that, you think?" Jack asked, taking a risk and moving to stand beside his partner, leaning his back against the railing though, keeping Mac's face in his sight. "Think it's cause you liked her? I mean, not to sound like a twelve year old girl or anything but, like liked her?"

"No." Mac said then sighed. "Maybe a little. I don't know, Jack. I just feel so damn guilty. I keep running through the list of available supplies over and over, trying to find something, anything that I could have used. Trying to find some way to save her, even though it's too late."

"You know what I think?" Jack asked, drawing a knee up and resting the heel of his boot against the deck railing. "Why this one's so hard?"

"I have the feeling you're gonna tell me even if I don't want to know." Mac answered.

"I think this one's so much worse because you feel like you have to blame yourself since there's nobody else for it to fall back on." Jack said.

"What do you mean?" Mac asked, turning a curious look towards Jack.

"Think about it." Jack insisted. "This was just a tragedy, plain and simple. No bad guy with a gun or psycho setting' off bombs. There's nobody to blame for her death, a death that she bravely chose, by the way, to save her students. In our line of work it's pretty much black and white, the good guys and the bad. There's no bad guy here, just a real unfortunate circumstance. And since you don't have someone to blame, you're puttin' it all on yourself."

Mac nodded but didn't say anything for a few moments, silently running Jack's words through his mind.

"I don't know what it was." He said finally. "Why I got so, attached, I guess is the right word, to her. I only knew her for a few hours but man, she made a big impression."

"Hey, it happens." Jack said with a shrug. "She was special." He bumped his shoulder into Mac's. "But hey, in my experience, nerdy little geeks who are too smart for their own good and carry around Swiss army knives can worm their way into your heart real fast."


	5. CO2 Sensor Tree Branch

I didn't have the highest expectations for this ep, despite my having been obsessed with Ashley Tisdale and all things High School Musical when I was, like, 13. Any episode where Mac and Jack are split up is never ideal, but this one was pretty cute. And they didn't skimp on the bromance for once! I just had one tiny little thing to add.

Jack glanced down at his phone again, closing out of Matty's 911 text. He looked at his high school nemesis who was making his way back to the party in the gym, having accepted Jack's hurried excuse about a bathroom tile emergency. Of all the bragging earlier that evening, one thing was still bugging Jack.

"Hey, Jimmy." He called, jogging down the hallway in the opposite direction of the main doors he was supposed to be exiting, impending robot apocalypse, and all.

"What's up, man?" Jimmy asked as he turned with a smile that Jack still wanted to break, even after all those years.

"You may have it all figured out." Jack began as he came to a stop nearly toe-to-toe with the other man. "With the money and the businesses and the charities and the model. You make it sound like you have it all. And hell, your life might actually be as perfect as it sounds. I wouldn't know, just bein' a bathroom tile salesman and all." Jack found himself once again cursing himself for not coming up with a cooler cover ID all those years ago. "I may not have all the fancy accomplishments you do to show how I've spent the years since we roamed these halls, but what I do have, that I'd be willing to bet could show up yours any day, is two great kids of my own."

"Really?" Jimmy asked, a disbelieving smirk on his face. "Never saw you as the parenting type, Dalton."

"Yeah well, me either." Jack admitted as he pulled out his wallet, taking care to keep his holstered gun hidden beneath his jacket. "I wasn't exactly plannin' on 'em, but I wouldn't trade these two for the world." He gently pulled a small photograph from behind his drivers license. His real license, Jack Wyatt Dalton's. Not Bryce Villinova's or Ernie Bung's or any of those other cover IDs he had a drawer of back home.

"You still keep pictures in your wallet?" Jimmy asked with a laugh.

"Yeah well phones don't tend to last too long in my line of work." Jack snapped back, thinking of all the ones Mac had broken over the years. "You know, bathroom tile and all." He quickly added, remembering his cover. "Lots of drops and cracked screens."

"I bet." Jimmy nodded.

"Anyway." Jack handed over the picture, one Bozer had taken on a whim during their last trip to the arcade for pizza and skee ball. Jack was actually the only one looking at the camera. Riley was leaning over, pressing her lips in a playful kiss against his cheek over top of a bruise from the last mission. Mac had been teasing him about the bruise, saying that Jack was losing his fighting skills in his old age, which resulted in Jacks knuckles reaching out and messing up Mac's hair, much to his partner's chagrin, as soon as the picture was taken. It had become Jack's new favorite picture of his little family as soon as Bozer had sent it to him.

"This little lady right here is Riley." He pointed to the picture in Jimmy's hand. "Don't let that pretty face fool ya, she's smart as a whip on a computer. She's workin' for one of those big fancy government think tanks back in LA. She got her looks, and probably if we're bein' honest here, her brains from her Mama, but boy does she have my temper." He chuckled fondly.

"And the boy?" Jimmy asked.

"That's Mac." Jack smiled proudly. "We're pretty sure he's a bonafide genius but he won't take the tests to find out. Went to MIT." He carefully left out the part where he had never actually graduated. "Then followed in his Grandpa's footsteps, joined the military, disarmin' bombs." If Jimmy assumed he was talking about Jack Dalton Sr's footsteps that was his mistake. "You know, one of those guys who puts his life on the line, keepin' this country safe so we can have shindigs like this." He pointed back to the Class of '93 banner on the wall.

"Wow, Jack." Jimmy said as he handed the picture back to Jack who tucked it safely back in his wallet. "Looks like you're doin' real well for yourself."

"I am." Jack assured. "Wouldn't change a thing." He glanced at his watch, realizing more time had passed than he had noticed. "I really do have to run now, Jimmy." He shook the man's hand before heading toward the door.

"Good seeing you again, Jack!" Jimmy called down the hallway.

"You too, man!" Jack yelled without looking back, finding that he, surprisingly, really meant it.

Jimmy sighed and made his way back to the gymnasium, thinking of the two photographs of his children on his phone. He took a deep breath and pasted another fake smile on his face before he entered the room, thinking, for what felt like the millionth time in his life, that he wished he could trade places with Jack Dalton and his perfect life.

Just a quick little thing, I'm already working on another chapter for last week's episode. Hope you enjoyed!


	6. Mardi Gras Beads Chair

**Man have the writers missed out on some great chances for some whumpy bromancy moments recently. But that's why we write, right? Just a heads up, I'm downplaying Jack's injury in this and focusing on Mac's. Cause sure, Jack getting burnt is totally possible, I'm not denying that. I just have a hard time seeing how a fire that he wasn't exposed to long enough to burn through his jacket was able to melt through, what I'm assuming, were tactical boots? The magic of television, I guess. Anyway. On with the Mac whump.**

 **Part One**

"Mac?" Jack asked cautiously as he immediately dropped to his knees beside his partner. The sounds coming from the younger man caused Jack's heart, which was still racing from his latest brush with death, to seize in sympathy. "You gotta talk to me, bud. Tell me what's wrong."

Mac just shook his head, eyes tightly closed, rolling onto his side away from Jack and drawing his knees closer to his chest where his hands were hovering, not quite touching his body, trembling in pain. He had seemed well enough, for the few seconds he had been standing next to Jack, no obvious injuries, but something was clearly wrong. He placed a hand softly on Mac's shoulder, pulling it away quickly as Mac flinched away from his touch, not wanting to cause any more pain. "I know that you're hurtin' but I can't fix it till you at least tell me where."

"Hands." Mac finally got out through the pain filled moans a few moments later.

"Hands?" Jack asked, puzzled. He started replaying the past few moments in his mind. He remembered Mac putting out the flames on his jacket and the wood of the coffin splintering around him after it fell off the conveyor belt. Unless it didn't just fall… "Aw, damn it Mac, you didn't." He whispered under his breath.

"Okay pal, let me see." He put his hand back on Mac's shoulder. Mac shook his head again in protest, clenching his eyes closed tighter. "C'mon, I'm not gonna hurt ya. Just let me get a look, see what we're dealin' with here. I won't even touch 'em." He promised.

Mac sighed, though it came out sounding more like a whine, and rolled back over to face Jack, squinting as he opened his eyes, and held his shaking hands out towards his partner.

Jack bit back a string of curse words as he saw the underside of the hands he was carefully cradling in his own. Pale skin now bright red, raised in places where blisters had already formed and burst, leaving behind welts that shone with dampness. It was only his years of training that allowed him to keep his face schooled into an expression of kind indifference when a cocktail of fury, sympathy, guilt, and nausea was swimming just beneath the surface. He took a breath, hoping that his voice wouldn't betray him and let his partner in on just how serious the damage appeared. "This isn't exactly my field of expertise." He joked, carefully setting Mac's hands back down. "I think we're gonna need a medic for this one, huh?"

Mac nodded in agreement, not even attempting to put up a fight. A sign of just how bad he felt, and causing Jack almost as much worry as actually seeing the injury. He carefully began digging through Mac's pockets until he found a cell phone.

"Mac?" Matty answered on the second ring. "Everything alright?"

"I'm fine." Jack answered quickly, skipping all formalities. "Mac's hurt. I need a med team over here, like, yesterday."

He heard her quickly barking orders to what he hoped were people much more equipped to help Mac than he was at the moment before her voice went back to speaking to him. "How bad?"

"I don't, I don't know. It's not good." He admitted, casting a glance at his partner's face, tight with pain.

"Help's on the way." Matty assured him and the call ended as abruptly as it had begun.

Jack sighed. "Alright bud, ya hear that? Matty's got somebody comin' to help us. You just hang in there."

"Kay." Mac answered through shuddering breaths.

Jack looked around the room, adrenaline still coursing through his body leaving him jittery and desperate for something, anything, he could do to help his partner. He took stock of the remnants of the caskett lying scattered across the floor, some of the pieces still smouldering. Mac had collapsed on top of a particularly large piece of the charred wood, and while Jack was sure it was the least of Mac's problems at the moment, it couldn't be comfortable to lay on. "What'd ya say we get you sittin' up, huh?"

Mac cracked open his eyes and recognise the look on Jack's face as one he saw so often when he looked in the mirror. The desperate need to help, to fix, to right the problem in front of him. So, despite the fact that moving was the last thing he wanted to do, he agreed.

It was a decision he was glad he made once he was sitting, well, leaning rather, against Jack; His face pressed against Jack's shirt that somehow still managed to smell like Jack, even through all the smoke. Mac forced himself to focus on the older man's heartbeat, which was slowly beginning to return to normal speed, and attempted to match his breathing to Jack's.

He wasn't sure whose sigh of relief was louder when they finally heard the sound of paramedics entering the building.

 **Part Two**

They had been in the air for hours, just the two of them in the cabin of one of Pheonix's lush private jets. Matty and Dixie, no, _Dawn_ , Jack had to keep reminding himself, were tying up some loose ends on the former Mrs. Duke Jacoby's new arrangement and were taking a later flight home. Jack streatched his legs, carefully, out in front of him and rolled his shoulders, taking in the aches and pains that had made themselves know since he and Mac had been checked over by the emergency medical team. And if his singed feet and bruises were already starting to make themselves known, then the blisters he had seen covering his partner's palms had to be hurting.

He sighed, turning around and looking at the younger man sitting on the sofa at the back of the plane. The same place he had been sitting, silently staring out the window, since they boarded. He was clearly upset, but Jack had given him plenty of time to himself and the silence, not to mention the three rows of seats between them was driving Jack crazy. He took a breath, heaved himself up out of the seat, and made his way down the aisle.

"Can't sleep?" He asked, nodding to the couch that he was used to Mac napping, or at the very least pretending to nap, on for the trip home.

Mac met his eyes for a brief moment. "Too tired to sleep, ya know?"

"Yeah." Jack agreed. "Long couple of days." Mac nodded and turned back to the window.

"You're bein' awfully quiet." Jack pressed on dropping into the chair closest to Mac. "Hands hurtin'?"

"I'm fine." Mac assured.

"Well something's buggin' you." Jack insisted, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "I mean, I get that you're pissed at me and all but you can't shut me out."

That finally got Mac's attention. He turned to look at his partner. "You think I'm mad at you? What would I be mad at you about?" He asked incredulously.

"You know, gettin' your hands all burnt up saving my bacon." Jack answered. "That's why I left you sulking all alone back here. Figured I'd give you some time to cool off, pun fully intended, by the way, but come on man, I'm sorry. Don't do this. You can be mad, or whatever, but you gotta at least tell me if you're hurting."

To Jack's surprise, Mac laughed. A relieved sound that lifted a weight automatically off Jack's shoulders even if it left him with more questions. "Why's that funny?"

"You have been up there," Mac nodded toward the front of the plane where Jack had been sitting. "This whole time, thinking I was mad at you? That's why you've been ignoring me?" He asked with a smile.

"Well, I mean, I wasn't ignoring you. I was giving you space." Jack clarified. "But yeah, why?"

"Cause I've been sitting back here the whole time thinking that you were mad at me." Mac admitted with a smile.

"Why in the world would I be mad at you?" Jack asked loudly. "For what, literally pulling my ass out of the fire?"

"Well I mean, you have a tendancy to get pretty grouchy if someone other than you gets hurt on the job." Mac pointed out with a shrug. "And I don't know, I was cutting it pretty close with getting you out of there."

"That's nothin' to be mad about!" Jack exclaimed. "The point is you did get me out. I'm fine. End of discussion."

Mac looked pointedly at Jack's bandaged feed and then back up at the wide bruise spanning his cheek.

"That's nothin'." Jack insisted. "Have you seen your hands? That's the only thing I'm worryin' about right now."

"I should have been faster." Mac said softly, looking down at his bandaged hands, hating how confined they felt, how still he had to keep them. "I… I hesitated. When I first got there, I was looking around, trying to find something to get you out. My first instinct wasn't to just pull you out with my bare hands."

"Of course it wasn't." Jack said with a chuckle. "You're brain's wired to solve problem with the items around you, not by injuring yourself to get the job done."

"You wouldn't have hesitated." Mac continued. "Not even for a second."

"Well now I don't think we've ever needed to question that I'm not exactly the brians of our little duo." Jack smiled. "Of course I would've just jumped in without thinkin'."

"To save me." Mac added. "You would have gotten hurt, like you always do, to save me. And when the rolls were reversed and I had to be the one saving you I… I froze."

"You didn't freeze." Jack insisted, moving to sit beside Mac. "You took a moment to try to do your job the way you're trained to. Nothin' wrong with that. And in the end you did get the job done, even though it went against your instincts."

Mac shook his head in disagreement. "My instincts were just screaming at me to get you out of there." He admitted as the pilot's voice came across the jet's speakers saying that they would be landing in a few moments.

"Well thanks again for saving me." Jack said with a small smile that didn't quite hide his guilt. "I just hate that you had to get hurt doin' it."

"I'd do it again." Mac said with a shrug that he instantly regretted, wincing when the movement pulled on his shoulder. A move that his partner didn't miss.

Jack took a slow breath and closed his eyes for a moment, forcing himself to keep his temper in check. "Mac? What else did you hurt while I was gone?"

"It's nothing." Mac assured. "Honestly. Just bruised my shoulder up a little. No big deal."

"Do I even want to know?" Jack asked with a sigh.

"The guy that I brought back to Dixie's house? The one that I tagged and Riley tracked to find you?" Mac began. "Well, I kinda went through a window trying to get the cuffs on him."

"So help me, pal, if you took another rapelling trip out a window with a cable cord like you did with that Zodiac creep…" Jack started before Mac cut him off.

"Nothing like that." Mac assured. "Not even a one story drop this time. He was trying to get free, I was trying to cuff him, and he, kinda, used me to break the window that he escaped through. No big deal."

"No big deal." Jack repeated increduously under his breath. "Well it wouldn'tve happened if I was there." Jack said, staring out the window as the plane descended, regretting that since Duke Jacoby was DOA he wasn't allowed to go throw a few punches to the goons who had abducted and tried to kill him and his, albiet fake, wife, and now apparently had hurt his partner, before leaving Louisiana.

"I'm sure they got what they deserved." Mac assured, knowing where the older man's thoughts were unevitibally headed. "I mean, we left them with Matty."

"True." Jack grinned. He hadn't given her the nicname Matty the Hun for nothing.

 **Part Three**

Jet lag was something that both Mac and Jack had grown used to over the years, their job usually required floating through multiple time zones throughout a single mission. It still took Mac's sleep deprived, pain muddled brain, time to process that though it was already early morning when they left New Orleans, the first rays of sun were only beginning to rise behind the Phoneix headquarters when the car Matty had arranged to drive them from the airport finally arrived at it's destination.

Their bickering voices filled the lobby as soon as Jack opened the door. "I'm just saying, I don't see why I couldn't have carried my own bag."

"Maybe because you don't have hands at the moment?" Jack exclaimed as he adjusted the two bags he had slung over one shoulder.

"I still have hands." Mac rolled his eyes at his partner's overexaggeration. "All I needed was for you to help me get the strap on my shoulder. That's it. I'm not completely helpless."

"I never said you were." Jack pointed out. "But you've got me to carry it for you so you don't have to worry about it."

"You two seriously started fighting before you even made it through the door?" Riley asked from one of the seats in the Phoenix lobby, her voice startling both men.

"We ain't fightin'." Jack corrected. "I'm tired and Mac's hurtin'. This is just how we're gonna sound until we remedy those problems. What are you doin' here so early anyway?" Jack asked, trying to find a way to greet Riley with a hug through the two bags he was carrying and the giant to-go cup of coffee she was holding.

"Matty called me in." She said around a drink of the coffee, trying to wake herself up more. "Can I hug you without hurting you more?" She asked Mac.

"Of course." He assured with a smile, hugging her as well as he could without using his hands.

"So what'd Matty call you in for?" Jack asked. "We don't have another job already do we? Cause I'm pretty sure we deserve at least one solid day to sleep off this last one."

"Nope." She assured him. "Well, you two don't. I'm on surveillance duty."

"Seriously?" Jack exclaimed. "We expect one day off and she's already got you jumpin' ship to another team?"

"Well," Riley began as the group made their way to the elevator. "Not exactly. Apparently she has a couple agents who are notorious for doing their best to avoid a trip to medical and she needed someone to make sure they don't 'forget' to stop in and get checked out." She finished speaking just as the elevator doors were closing and had pressed the button to take them to the medical floor before either man fully realized her plan.

"I am perfectly fine." Jack insisted, crossing his arms defiantly. "Mac's the one who needs to get checked out. His hands are a mess."

"Thanks man." Mac rolled his eyes. "Way to throw a guy under the bus."

"Hey now, you heard the paramedics back there." Jack reminded. "He said I was good to go, just to take it easy for a few days. You on the other hand, I seem to recall somethin' about second, possibly third degree burns and needing further examination to test for nerve damage."

Riley bit back a laugh as she watched the reflection of the three of them in the elevator doors, her head following each voice as they spoke, turning back and forth as if she were watching a tennis match.

"And like I tried explaining to the paramedic, third degree burns mean damage to the nerve endings, usually to the point that they stop relaying pain signals to the brain. Those tests are completely unnecessary because these burns hurt. Meaning that there is no reason I can't just go home." Mac argued.

"So they're hurtin'?" Jack asked with a sly grin.

"I mean, yeah?" Mac answered, confused. "I just told you that's a good thing with burns. It means..."

"It means," Jack interrupted. "That you just confirmed your trip to medical, my friend. That's the rule, right? If it's bad enough for you to admit to it hurting you go get checked out?"

"I don't… I… That wasn't fair." Mac glared at his partner across the elevator.

"You kinda walked right into that one, Mac." Riley admitted. "But Jack's going too."

"Oh no Jack isn't." Jack protested.

"What did we say about talking in third person?" Mac asked sharply. "Seriously? Were gonna start back with that?"

"Are you sure, Jack?" Riley asked sweetly, ignoring Mac's sudden, seemingly random, outburst. "Because I was instructed to send you both to medical as soon as you got back. But if you really don't need to go, Maddy has a whole class set up for you on propper post-mission reporting. I mean, I was planning on letting you wait around with Mac until he was cleared to go home. Then you could both go. But if you're really fine then I can wait with Mac and give him a ride home. You can head on down and get started. The video you're required to watch before you can even begin any of the review work is over two hours long, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get started on it." The elevator finally stopped and opened its doors, revealing a quiet, due to the early hour, medical ward. Riley gently prodded Mac to exit the elevator.

"Performance review is on the fourth floor." He reminded his partner over his shoulder with a smirk. "Have fun."

Jack glanced at the numbers on the elevator keypad and then at the open doors, silently weighing his options. "On second thought, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get checked over again. Make sure those NOLA guys didn't miss anything." He decided with a defeated sigh as he too stepped onto the infirmary floor.

"Good choice." Riley commended with a smile as she followed him, letting the elevator doors close behind her. "Now go. Let me finish my coffee in peace." She sat down in the closest waiting room chair and pulled out her phone.

Jack took a second to drop both his and Mac's bags on the floor by her feet before heading through the door to the med bay.

"I still can't believe you wouldn't let me carry my own bag." Mac grumbled as he walked beside Jack.

Jack's exasperated "You don't have hands!" was the last thing Riley heard before the door swung closed behind them.

 **I love writing these guys.**


	7. MurdocHandcuffs

**This was such a good episode. Seriously, so great. But I couldn't resist adding, what I thought was going to be a tiny little missing scene to fill in the gap between Hellman's death (Is anyone REALLY believing that he's dead, by the way? I mean, you don't develop that much of a backstory just to kill the guy off twenty minutes later.) and Mac's house. That tiny little missing scene turned into this beast of an episode tag, but I kinda love this one. Also, this was my first attempt at writing Murdoc and while trying to get his voice just right was super intimidating, he's a really fun character to write. Hope I did him justice.**

"If you think…" Mac began as he tried to sit himself upright using only one arm. "That we're going to give you… back your son…" He gave up, falling back to the ground with a pained huff.

"Then you're as crazy as you look." Jack finished for him. "But I mean, we already knew that."

"Do I need to remind you, Jack, that I just saved our dear MacGyver?" Murdoc asked from his spot kneeling on the floor.

"Yeah, well all I see is that you shot him." Jack snapped. "And if you don't wanna be taken out of here in a body bag right alongside your pal over there," Jack pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "You better stay right there while I check my partner over."

"Jack, I'm fine." Mac insisted, attempting to sit up again.

"Hey." Jack started, sliding the rifle onto his shoulder and making his way over to Mac. "Stop that." He dropped to the floor and placed a resisting hand on Mac's chest, keeping the younger man still. "What, we're just gonna up and ignore the fact that you got shot?"

"Yes, brilliant idea Jack." Murdoc called out, clapping his hands gleefully. "And instead we can focus on my brave acts and how exactly they can be repaid."

Jack spun on his heel, still crouched on one knee, and in a flash the rifle was cocked and pointed at Murdoc once more. "Keep your hands up and don't move. I mean it. I've put up with your crazy ass all day and now I've got a partner with a psycho-inflicted gunshot wound. So you're gonna stay right there, not moving, not talkin', hell, if you wanna add not breathing to that list, be my guest. But if I hear your voice again, the next bullet flyin' is gonna land right between your eyes."

Murdoc smiled, seemingly unphased by Jack's threat. He snapped his mouth closed, pausing to mime locking his lips shut on the way to raising his hands again.

Jack shook his head in frustration and turned back to his partner, expression immediately softening. "How ya doin', bud?"

"We need to get out of here." Mac said, ignoring Jack's question. "Or find a way to call Matty… Have her send exfil."

"Okay, we will. First things first, though, alright? Lemme check you over." Jack insisted, quickly unbuttoning the top two buttons of Mac's shirt despite his partner's weakly protesting hand trying to push Jack's away.

"I'm fine." Mac tried again, wincing as the wound was exposed to the bitterly cold winter air.

"This is about as far from fine as you can get." Jack grumbled to himself as he pulled a navy blue bandana out of his jacket pocket.

"It's not Cairo bad." Mac said, forcing a smile. "Or Lake Como, if we're just comparing GSWs."

"We don't talk about Cairo. And I almost lost you both those times, pal." Jack reminded the younger man, wincing in sympathy as Mac couldn't quite bite down the groan of pain as Jack pressed the bandana against his bleeding shoulder. "Sorry."

"S'okay." Mac assured, though his eyes were closed tightly against the pain. "My point is…" He paused to take a shaky breath. "I survived a bullet to the chest and the crapstorm that was Cairo. This is nothing."

"It's not nothing." Jack said with a smile. "But yeah, you're gonna be fine. As long as I can figure out a way to get us outta here before we freeze to death or you bleed out."

"Need a cell phone." Mac agreed, wincing as Jack added more pressure to his throbbing shoulder.

"Yeah but I wasn't kiddin' when I said mine was busted when that chopper went up in flames. And yours is about five states that-a-way." He said, nodding past Hellman's body.

Mac sighed in defeat. He was hurting enough that he was beginning to doubt his ability to improvise their way out of the situation when he saw Murdoc's hand, stretched as far over his head as it would go, waving frantically. Like a student who knew the answer and was going to burst if the teacher didn't call on them soon.

"I, um, think he has something to say." Mac said, drawing Jack's attention back to the man behind him.

"Oh for Christ's sake." Jack growled. "What now?"

Murdoc smiled, pointing to his mouth and shrugging his shoulders to remind Jack that he wasn't allowed to talk.

"If you have something useful to say, then spit it out." Jack spoke slowly, patience thinning, and shook his head in disbelief, rolling his eyes in a shared glance with his partner, as Murdoc made a show of pulling an imaginary key out of his coat pocket and unlocking his lips before speaking.

"I believe I may have the solution to our problem, gentlemen." He smiled.

"What's that?" Mac asked, watching Jack's free hand inch closer to his weapon.

"Mr. Hellman, may he rest in peace," Murdoc began, but was quickly interrupted by Jack's huffed laugh and no so quiet "Or not."

"Rude, Jack. Very rude. He was a dear friend." Murdoc frowned in displeasure for a moment before breaking into a sudden smile again and continuing. "Anywhoo. Mr. Hellman followed us here in a cop car, correct?"

"Me drivin' a lunatic serial killer, my bleeding partner, and the dead body of another lunatic serial killer all the way back to LA in a reported stolen cop car isn't exactly an ideal plan, crazy pants." Jack pointed out with a sigh. It had, admittedly, been his first idea, but there were too many risks involved.

"That's not what I was suggesting, Jack. Though a road trip with you two could be fun…" He trailed off, lost in an apparent day dream.

"Murdoc!" Jack yelled, breaking the other man out of his daze.

"I just want to see my son." Murdoc answered calmly, switching topics suddenly. "I don't think that's too large a request."

"Look, man, it's not up to us, alright?" Jack sighed, passing a hand over his face. "Even if we both thought it was a good idea and agreed to it we can't make that call. That's way over our heads. Out of our paygrade. But for what's it's worth, I'll talk to Matty, okay? That's all I can promise. Now did you have an idea or not?"

"For transportation home?" Murdoc asked. "No. For a way of contacting the rest of our little Phoenix family and having them send help? Absolutely. The cop car is full of fun things." He paused to smile and then continued. "That's where I got the handy little gun I saved Angus with. Surely among all the fun things there could be a cell phone we could borrow."

Jack looked down at Mac. "That's not a half bad idea, really." He admitted.

"And even if there isn't a cell we could always use the radio." Mac said with a smile.

"You know what else? I betcha there's a first aid kit in that cruiser too. Get you all patched up until help gets here." Jack added.

"Great!" Murdoc said, slapping his hands on his thighs and moving to stand up. "I'll just go look for a phone, and the aforementioned medical kit of course…"

"You make one more move and it'll be the last thing you do." Jack threatened.

"Fine." Murdoc resumed kneeling and raised his hands in the air once again in surrender. "You go search the cop car and I'll stay here and keep watch over MacGyver."

"Like hell you will." Jack spat. "You're not leavin' my sight. Let alone bein' left alone with him. You already shot him once."

"Jack." Mac's fingers wrapped themselves around Jack's wrist. "Go. Take him with you, if you don't want to leave him here, but go get what we need so we can get help and get out of here."

"Mac, I don't just wanna leave you." Jack sighed, glancing between his injured partner and the open doorway that lead outside.

"You'll be gone for like, two minutes." Mac reasoned. "I'll be fine for that long."

"That's what you told me last time." Jack said softly. "And that nearly got you dead."

"Jack. Go." Mac insisted. And though he hated the idea, Jack didn't see a better option.

"Alright. Here." Jack took Mac's hand in his own and brought it up to the younger man's injured shoulder. "You keep pressure on that for me, yeah?" Mac nodded though it sent shockwaves through his already throbbing shoulder. Giving Mac's good shoulder a squeeze, Jack stood up.

He grabbed a handful of the rope that Mac had been tieing to his improvised weights for the trap he had been building and quickly had Murdoc standing, his hands tied behind his back. "This is very uncomfortable." Murdoc complained.

"Is it?" Jack asked, voice dripping with fake concern.

"Jack." Mac warned, but the sound of Jack's fist connecting solidly with Murdoc's jaw was louder than the blonde man's voice.

"That better?" Jack asked, looming over where the still bound man had dropped to the floor from the force of the punch.

"Much." Murdoc hissed sarcastically as he ran his tongue over his molars, searching for damage.

"Good. Is for me too." Jack said as he walked across the room picking up the gun that Murdoc had, wisely, given up without a fight, and placed it beside Mac.

"You know I'm not gonna use that." Mac reminded his partner.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Jack smiled down at the younger man. "But it'll make me feel better knowin' you have it. So just go with it." He took a deep breath. "I'll be right back, okay?" Jack asked, resting a comforting hand on Mac's cheek for a quick moment, thumb brushing at his temple.

"I know." Mac assured

"Keep pressure on that." Jack reminded, adjusting Mac's hand to make sure he was holding the bandana over the wound tight enough. "And stay awake. I'll be back before you know it, alright? You still owe me that fist bump."

Mac forced his face into what he hoped was a reassuring smile and nodded. It was enough to encourage Jack to readjust the rifle on his shoulder, haul Murdoc to his feet, and make his way out into the snow.

"It's this way." Murdoc called in a singsong voice, turning left. The snow was falling so hard that it had already covered the footprints from Murdoc's first trek to the cruiser, but Jack couldn't think of a reason for the assassin to lie about the car's location so he followed silently.

"I love the snow." Murdoc declared as he lifted his face up to the grey sky in childlike delight. "It's so clean, so pure. It turns the whole world into this new blank canvas, even if just for a little while. It covers all the bad things up and then, like magic, you can go and create new chaos. Have you ever killed someone in the snow, Jack? I'm sure you have. It's absolutely breathtaking isn't it? The shock of red against all that brilliant white, there's nothing else like it in the world. And then it all melts away, which is sad. But! You know that it will come back. And then you can start the whole thrilling adventure over. Make a new masterpiece over, and over again."

"You know, I've seen a lot of crazies in my life. But you take the cake. You somehow just keep finding new ways to disturb me." Jack said, shaking his head in disgust at the man in front of him.

"You know what amazes me about you Jack?" Murdoc asked.

"A tie between my abnormal level of patience, I mean I haven't killed you yet, or my ruggedly handsome good looks." Jack guessed.

"No. Sorry, not my type." Murdoc replied and Jack rolled his eyes. "What I find most fascinating about you, Jack Dalton, is how easily you can switch rolls. Back and forth, back and forth. Like flipping a lightswitch."

"I don't know what in the hell you're rambling on about but I'm seriously hoping there's a muzzle in that cop car." Jack sighed. "Or at least a roll of duct tape to keep your mouth shut."

"No, it's amazing!" Murdoc continued, seemingly oblivious to Jack's frustration. "One minute you're exactly as advertised. The big scary Delta commander, throwing around punches and threats you fully intend to follow through with, no bluffing. Always ready with a joke to deflect from the seriousness of the situation. And then the second your boy, your precious MacGyver, needs you, your an entirely different person it seems. You're soft and comforting, a steady hand and cool head among all the madness. A gentle giant, if you will. It's astonishing how easily you can switch modes depending on what he needs. Truly fascinating to watch."

"It's called being a good partner." Jack said easily, as if doing anything other than being exactly what Mac needed at any given moment had never crossed his mind. "Somethin' you wouldn't know nothing about." He sighed in relief when Murdoc turned a corner and there was the car, just feet away.

"Stay." Jack ordered, shifting the rifle on his shoulder to remind Murdoc that he wouldn't hesitate to use it if he had a reason to.

"First aid kit, cell phone, muzzle." He muttered the list to himself as he made his way to the cruiser.

One of the back doors had been left open and Jack jumped in surprise when he found the body lying across the seat. "Damn it, Murdoc! You didn't say there was another body!" He yelled.

"I said the car was full of fun things!" The other man replied with a smirk. "Corpses are fun, Jack. It's not my fault if we have different definitions of the word."

Jack shook his head in disgust but there was nothing left he could do for the fallen officer, so he focused on the problems he could solve. The man's gun was missing from it's holster, but there were handcuffs on the tactical belt, something Jack hadn't even thought to hope for, and a cell phone in the pants pocket. He shook his head morosely when he saw the picture of the young woman and two kids on the, luckily unlocked, home screen.

He quickly dialed Matty's personal number, not wanting to waste time going through the maze of Phoenix's main server boards, and began searching under the front seats for a first aid kit while waiting on her to pick up.

The "If this isn't Mac or Jack, I don't have time to deal with it." that she answered the phone with was music to Jack's ears.

"It's me." He assured. "I need you to send in the calvary for this one Matty. Fast. It went real south on us."

He heard her barking orders and a few seconds later her voice came back on the line. "Alright. We're tracing your location now. What do you need?" She asked calmly.

"I've got Mac with a GSW, Hellman dead, and the body of the officer that he stole the cruiser from. This is his phone. Officer Martinez, his badge says." Jack rattled off without taking a breath.

"Is Mac okay?" Jack heard Riley's voice come through the phone.

"He'll be alright, through and through to the shoulder, but I'd feel a whole lot better if a med team got him stabilized before we head home." Jack admitted.

"And Murdoc?" Matty asked.

"Contained." Jack assured. "Annoying as ever and apparently has one helluva death wish seein' as how he's the one that shot Mac, but we've still got him."

"Tell Matilda that I want to see my son." Murdoc yelled.

"Wait. Murdoc is the one that shot Mac?" Riley asked in alarm. "And you didn't kill him on the spot?"

"Impressive, right?" Jack smiled bitterly but let out a sigh of relief as he finally pulled out a first aid kit. "Look, I gotta get back to Mac. I'll explain everything later. Just…"

"An exfil team's already on their way with a medic." Matty promised. "Just hang on until they reach your location."

"Copy that." Jack answered, ending the call and gathering his finds into one arm, making sure to shut the car doors behind him. "Let's go." He called to Murdoc, nodding through the still falling snow towards his partner's location.

"Aww. No more playing in the snow?" Murdoc pouted. "Darn. I was really enjoying our time together, Jack."

If the shove Jack gave to the other man's back to encourage him to get moving was a little too rough and Murdoc ended up face down in the snow as a result, well, nobody was around to see it.

"It's just me, Mac." Jack called as he entered the warehouse, stomping the snow off his boots as he made his way over to the blonde man. "Don't shoot me or anything." Jack grinned when he saw Mac's mouth curve upwards in a small smirk despite his tightly shut eyes and pained expression.

"And Murdoc?" Mac asked.

"Still here." The assassin growled, shaking droplets of melted snow out of his hair since his hands were still tied behind his back and he couldn't wipe the moisture off his face.

"Now him…" Jack began, shooting a wink towards his captive. "Him you can shoot if ya want."

Mac cracked open his eyes, wincing against the light, and began taking note of the items Jack had brought from the police car. "Did you find a phone?"

"Yup." Jack assured, dropping his haul onto the floor. "Help's on the way. And I found another pair of these." He said picking up the handcuffs and twirling them around a finger. "Since we now agree that takin' that first pair off was a real bad idea."

Mac glanced at Murdoc for the first time since the man had returned, taking in his soaking wet coat and dripping hair. "What happened to you?"

"I fell." He snapped, voice oozing with sarcasm. "What does it look like happened MacGyver? Your guard dog doesn't exactly like to play fair."

"You wanna talk playin' fair?" Jack barked out an incredulous laugh. "Try shouting for someone to duck next time you need 'em out of the way instead of sending a bullet through their shoulder. Now c'mon." He spun the cuffs around his finger again. "Let's get you tied up and out of the way."

"I'm already tied up." Murdoc pointed out angrily, though the effect of his tone was dampened by the snow still dripping from his front.

"Yeah?" Jack began, grabbing Murdoc's shoulder and walking him towards the closest of the building's many brick walls. "Well this way I'll know that even if you get your hands untied, you ain't goin' anywhere." He clicked one link around Murdoc's hand and the other against a steel pipe running down the length of the wall.

"You do know that I could get out of this in under a minute if I desired." Murdoc said casually, smiling eyes challenging Jack's.

"Be my guest." Jack shrugged as he turned away. "Mac might not shoot you but I wouldn't lose a single night's sleep over it."

He picked up the first aid kit and the rifle, just to prove his point, and dropped to his knees beside his partner. "Hey kid. How ya holdin' up?" He brushed a gentle hand over Mac's hair before checking his pulse.

"M'alright." Mac assured, though his voice was weaker and his skin had paled a few shades since Jack had left.

Jack shook his head in fond exasperation. "No, buddy. You're not. But you will be once I get you all fixed up." He shook the medical kit, hearing the rattling of its contents. "And hey, look. Real med supplies instead of that old bandana that, between you and me, has lived in this here coat pocket for the past three years and hasn't been washed once. Who knows what all's on that little scrap of cloth."

Mac huffed a pained laugh, wrinkling his nose in disgust and hoping Jack wasn't serious.

"It never fails!" Murdoc called from across the room, voice filled with awe. "Off and on, off and on. Just like a lightswitch."

"Can it, Murdoc." Jack warned, shooting the man a glare.

"What's he talking about?" Mac asked.

"Oh nothin'." Jack assured. "He's crazy, you know that."

"I'm referring to the way that Jack is able to go from soldier to nurturer in the blink of an eye for you MacGyver." Murdoc continued despite Jack's warning. "It truly is an amazing thing to watch."

"That's just Jack." Mac defended. "He does the same thing for everyone, not just me."

"Oh, see now that's where you're wrong." Murdoc corrected with glee. "I've been watching you, well, not just you, of course, the whole little family, for quite some time now. And there's no denying Jack's love for all of them. But you, Mac. You're special."

"I said that's enough!" Jack yelled, loud enough to startle even Murdoc. He took a breath and returned his voice to normal. "You shut up and leave him alone."

"Jack." Mac's voice drew Jack's attention back to his main priority. "Don't let him get in your head." He said softly. "I let it happen once already today. Just ignore him."

"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya." Jack agreed. "Let's get you all patched up, huh?"

Mac tried his best to remain quiet throughout the ordeal, but field dressing a gunshot wound wasn't a pleasant experience. Every pained groan and Mac couldn't bite down and every quietly uttered word of comfort that fell automatically from Jack's lips added to Murdoc's evergrowing smile as he watched on, never taking his eyes away from the two men, relishing in Mac's pain. An observation that caused the pit in Jack's stomach to grow every time his eyes strayed to their prisoner.

"Alright." Jack declared, carefully tacking down the last corner of a pressure bandage. "That's as good as it's gettin' till someone with more medical knowledge than me gets here."

Mac nodded carefully, barely moving his head, focusing on trying to quiet the labored pants his breaths had turned into.

Jack gave him a few moments, silently repacking the items back in the first aid kit, only pausing when he felt his partner's eyes on him. "You good?"

"Yeah." Mac answered, voice hoarse. His assurance was short lived though, as a sudden shiver wracked his body, pulling on his aching shoulder.

"You cold?" Jack asked, even though it was obvious, needing to fill the silence.

"Not too bad." Mac assured.

"Here." Jack slipped out of his own jacket, covering Mac with it.

"You don't have to…" Mac sighed. "You'll get cold."

"I'm fine. I'm not the one with the bullet wound layin' on the cold floor." Jack pointed out.

"I don't see anyone offering me a nice warm jacket." Murdoc called.

"Aren't you supposed to be shutting up?" Jack asked with an eye roll.

"You know," Murdoc pressed on. "You seem to be coddling our boy genius even more today than usual. Is it perhaps that you're feeling guilty?"

"I'm feelin' pretty damn guilty for not killing you the first time I had the chance. Would've saved everyone a whole lot of trouble." Jack retorted.

"No, I know you Jack. I know that guilt is eating you up right now. I mean, it's your fault if Mac gets hurt on your watch. It's your job to keep that from happening, right?"

"Murdoc. Don't." Mac tried to no avail.

"And you see, you keep putting the blame on me." His voice turned to a cheap imitation of a southern twang. "'Murdoc shot him. It's Murdoc's fault.' But what you're failing to admit, Jack, is that while not entirely untrue, Mac is hurt because you failed him. You weren't there to protect him, and I had to do it. My way."

"You really want to stop talking." Jack warned, voice surprisingly calm

"I'm right, aren't I?" Murdoc smiled. "That's why he's being even more overprotective and accommodating than usual, MacGyver. Get used to it, it's going to last for a while."

"I warned you." Jack growled as he stood up. One sharp right hook to the man's temple and Murdoc was out cold, the handcuff chained to the wall the only thing keeping him upright. "Should've shut up when I told ya to."

"Jack." Mac called, leaning forward and propping himself up on one elbow despite how it made the room spin around him. "Don't listen to him."

The older man quickly made his way back to Mac's side. "What do you think you're doin'?" He sat down with a huff and gently pushed Mac back down, this time with his head resting on Jack's thigh. "Just, stay still."

"It's not your fault." Mac said, eyes tightly closed once again.

"Sure feels like it." Jack argued with a sigh. "I'm sorry, kiddo."

"Not your fault." Mac repeated.

"Just feels like I've been letting you get hurt a lot lately. The nerve gas and the burnt hands." Jack's hand began carding through Mac's hair without even realizing it. "Makes me wonder if our run's about over."

"You're not serious are you?" Mac asked, his eyes snapping open in panic.

"I mean, I don't like the idea, but if I can't keep you safe then I need to find someone who can." Jack said softly.

I don't want another partner." Mac insisted. "We started this job together, we're finishing it together."

"You go kaboom, I go kaboom." Jack agreed with a smile.

"Exactly. End of discussion." Mac sighed in relief.

"But that was when it was just you and me against the world." Jack continued. "You've got a whole team helping you do this job now."

"And I still need you." Mac assured.

"Yeah?" Jack asked with a wry laugh. "Why? So I can go let you get shot by another crazy assassin when I'm not where I'm supposed to be?"

"No. So you can take care of me after I go and do something reckless to save the world." Mac smiled. "And to punch the bad guys in the face when I don't feel up to it."

"Hey, I'll gladly punch that dude in the face for you any day." Jack promised.

"Won't get a chance to punch him any more if you quit on me." Mac pointed out.

"You really still want me as a partner?" Jack asked. "After all these years. Even after I let you go off and get shot?"

"I told you we were saving that fist bump for later didn't I?" Mac reasoned, holding out his good arm, fist closed.

"Yeah." Jack grinned. "Yeah you did." He tapped his knuckles gently against his partner's and as if on cue, the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.

"You hear that buddy? Calvary's here." Jack said in relief.

"Nah." Mac disagreed. "Calvary was here the second you came running around that corner."

 **Wow. I think this is the longest tag I've ever done. Thoughts? Too fluffy? Too drawn out? Was my Murdoc even close to accurate? Lemme know!**


	8. Hammock Balcony

**Yeah, I know, I've gotten way behind on these tags. But I rewatched Hammock+Balcony the other day and I found it weird that Mac seemed to be perfectly fine with Jack dislocating his shoulder to avoid the mission and get a chance to break into Matty's place. Like, I'm sorry, I can't see Mac really being okay with Jack actually breaking into Matty's place, let alone him hurting himself to do it. Not sure why I didn't see that the first time I watched this ep, but I didn't. So I got to thinking, and if I had written this episode, the opening scene with Mac pulling Jack through the hole in the wall seems like the perfect opportunity for a dislocated shoulder. So here's a rewritten scene of Hammock+Balcony where we're resetting Jack's shoulder instead of pulling it out of socket, with an added side of bromance. Cause why not?**

"I'm sorry, you want me to do what?" Jill asked, looking down at Jack lying prone on the floor of his apartment.

"Look, I threw out my shoulder on the last mission, okay? I can't really tell you any more than that, secret spy secrets, and all, but it's dislocated and I need you to pop it back in for me." Jack explained again.

Jill was silent for a moment, but Jack couldn't see what she was doing from his position on the floor. Eventually, she knelt down beside him. "You're sure it's dislocated?" She asked, hands hovering uncertainty near his elbow. "What if it's broken or something and I just make it worse?"

"It's not broken." Jack assured, rolling his eyes. "I've been throwing this shoulder out since the fourth grade. It just needs reset."

"Okay, that's fine but by, like, a doctor." Jill reasoned. "Someone with actual experience in resetting dislocated joints. Not me."

"You've seen it done in movies, right?" Jack asked, trying to convince her to hurry up. "That counts as experience. You do it just like that."

"Yeah, that does not count as experience." She argued with a frown. "And I don't usually watch movies where people end up with dislocated shoulders. And then ask coworkers to repair it for them."

"Then you're watchin' the wrong kind of movies, girl." Jack said with a grin. "Look, it'll be fine, okay. I have complete faith that you can do it. Just, one hand on the elbow to push it back in and use the other to twist it around, alright?"

"If you're sure…" Jill agreed, reluctantly picking up his hand.

Her grip on his hand faltered as three quick knocks from the front door sounded through the apartment. Jack groaned, letting his forehead drop back to the rug with a thump. "Can you go see who that is?" He asked with a sigh, not wanting to move.

"Sure." She agreed with relief, standing up and stepping around Jack's body on the floor.

"Wait, wait, wait." Jack called in a loud whisper before she had even made it halfway to the door. "That table there by the couch? There's a gun in the top drawer."

"Seriously?" She asked incredulously, stopping to turn and look at the older man.

"Well, I mean, there's plenty more around here but that one's the closest." Jack continued, not understanding her confusion.

She shook her head with a smile and went on to the door, ignoring Jack's instructions. "I'm not taking a gun with me to answer the door."

"Your funeral." He cautioned. Before he could continue his warning, he heard the unmistakable sound of his deadbolt tumblers turning and the door opening.

"Hey." He heard Jill greet whoever was at his door. "Come on in. He's in the living room."

"See!" Jack yelled towards the door. "I said to see who's at the door! Not invite 'em on in!"

"Thank's Jill." He heard a familiar voice say. "I've got it from here."

Jack waited silently until a pair of shoes came into his view as Mac sat on the coffee table that had been carelessly kicked out of the way earlier. "Let me hear it." He said with a groan, dropping his head onto his uninjured arm and preparing himself for the lecture he knew was coming.

Instead Mac just laughed. "Jill, Jack? Seriously? Of all people you call Jill?"

"She's a perfectly capable young woman." Jack defended. "And I thought I could trust her not to go tattlin' to you. Boy was I wrong. How'd you get here so fast, anyway?" Jack asked, trying to direct the conversation away from himself.

"I've been driving around the block since we left Phoenix." Mac admitted sheepishly.

"Seriously? What'd you do, tail me all the way here?" Jack asked, wondering just how badly his shoulder had been bothering him if he hadn't noticed Mac's Jeep following him.

"Well someone had to make sure you got home safe, driving with a dislocated shoulder." Mac pointed out. "Figured you would call not long after you got inside, didn't see the point in driving home just to turn back around."

"Wait." Jack began replaying his partner's words over. "You knew? That I pulled my shoulder out again?"

"Jack. Seriously? Yeah, I knew before we even made it out of that building with the drive." Mac rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jack asked, turning his head with a wince, trying to see more of Mac than just his boots.

"Why didn't you?" Mac shot back with raised eyebrows.

"I don't know, man." Jack groaned. "Figured you had enough on your plate, didn't need me to add somethin' else to the list of stuff you're worrying about."

"Yeah that plan really worked out, didn't it?" Mac said shaking his head in what could only be described as fond exasperation. "If I'd know you were gonna be crazy enough to try to hide this from me I would have called you out on it back on the plane."

"Wouldn't be the first time we've had to pop this thing back in place and keep goin' with the mission." Jack pointed out.

"Exactly. I just assumed you were avoiding a trip to medical and were gonna mention it before we headed home, but no, you were just going to act like it never happened. And then I get a text, from Jill. Jill! Saying you were hurt and had asked her for help but she thought you needed a doctor. Wanted me to come over and drag your ass to the infirmary since you wouldn't listen to her." Mac grinned. "What're you doing on the floor anyway?"

"Well I was tryin' to make my shoulder easier for Jill to reach." Jack explained. "And I thought it would be a tad bit creepy if I called her askin' for a favor and she showed up and found me in bed."

"That's pretty much the exact definition of creepy." Mac agreed, nodding. "But since it's just me here now and I'm well versed in dealing with your creepiness, you wanna get off the floor?"

Jack blew out a defeated sigh, knowing that his plan to not bother Mac with his latest injury had been foiled. "Yeah, help me up."

"You got down there, old man." Mac said with a laugh. "Help yourself up."

Jack didn't even have time to form a proper glare before Mac had dropped to a knee beside him, reaching out a hand. "I'm just messing with you." He assured, though he was still laughing.

"Bed?" Mac asked, nodding towards Jack's closed bedroom door, once both men were standing again.

"Nah, just do it here." Jack said, having to put a little more thought into keeping himself standing upright than usual. "Get it over with."

"Well sit down at least." Mac insisted, moving towards the sofa. "You look terrible."

"Your face looks terrible." Jack shot back automatically before wincing at his poor attempt at a joke. "Not my best comeback, huh?"

"Sad thing is it wasn't your worst." Mac said with a smirk as Jack sat down with a huff. "You good?"

"Will be." Jack said, slowly attempting to roll his injured shoulder and wincing at the results. "Go for it."

"So what exactly was your plan?" Mac asked, pulling a Jack Dalton patented move and trying to get Jack talking to distract from the pain as he carefully began assessing his partner's shoulder from where he was standing behind the couch. "How were you going to explain this to everyone?"

"To be perfectly honest with ya, pal, I hadn't thought that far ahead." Jack admitted, knuckles turning white as they gripped the edge of the couch as Mac's careful fingers explored his shoulder. "I was gonna worry about getting my shoulder back in workin' order before I came up with a backstory."

"Any frontrunners?" Mac asked, genuinely curious.

"I don't know, probably somethin' with ninjas. Jujitsu. Swords. You know, a typical Friday night." Jack smirked.

"Jujitsu doesn't use swords." Mac corrected automatically. "It's all hand to hand, using the momentum of your opponent's mass and velocity. Kinjutsu is the one with swords."

"I'll just file that away with all the other useless information you've taught me over the years." Jack said, rolling his eyes. "Now are you gonna fix that shoulder for me or are you just gonna stand there pokin' it all evening? Cause if that's all you're gonna do you could have left me with Jill."

"I always forget how mean you get when you're hurting." Mac teased, their years of partnership leaving him unphased by Jack's gruff demeanor. "But since it's technically my fault that this shoulder popped out in the first place I guess I'll allow you to complain about it."

"Ain't your fault." Jack huffed. "That's part of why I didn't tell ya. Didn't want you feelin' guilty 'bout it."

"Well I mean, I don't like that you got hurt, but if the options are a dislocated shoulder or being mauled from the waist down by a pack of guard dogs, I'll take the first one any day." Mac reasoned.

"Me too, brother. Me too." Jack agreed.

"Alright, I'm ready if you are." Mac announced, finally having finished his assessment of Jack's shoulder.

"Bring it." Jack said with a terse nod, taking a breath and bracing himself for the upcoming pain.

"Want me to do a countdown, or just surprise you?" Mac asked, trying to give his partner as much control of the situation as possible.

"I don't care, man." Jack sighed. "Just do it."

"I'm just gonna go for it then." Mac decided, lining up his hands to give him the most leverage on the damaged joint.

Jack nodded his silent encouragement and Mac took a breath to steady his nerves. "Here we go." He warned before deft hands pushed and twisted Jack's arm with just the right amount of force for a sickening pop to echo through the room as Jack's shoulder was finally realigned.

He quickly drew his hands away from Jack's shoulder as the older man curled forward. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry." Mac said softly, his words getting lost in the sounds Jack was failing to keep from escaping. The cross of high pitched keening and guttural growl that Mac had grown to associate with Jack dealing with pain over the years.

"Sorry." He tried again after a few moments had passed and Jack had regained some of his composure.

"It's alright." Jack assured, voice hoarse, as he clenched the fingers on his left hand and slowly uncurled them, testing his grip strength and wincing as it pulled at his aching shoulder. "Damn, no matter how many times I do that it never hurts any less."

"Well, the longer you put off resetting it, the more inflammation the joint gathers, so it's going to hurt more." Mac explained, not so subtling reminding Jack again that trying to hide his injured shoulder from him had been a bad idea.

"You know what I want even less than a science lesson right now?" Jack asked. "A friggin lecture. I screwed up. I should have told you I threw out my shoulder. Can we just drop it?" He used his good arm to slowly lower himself to laying down on the couch.

"Yeah, we're good." Mac assured. "As long as you don't do this again. Next time you tell me."

"Deal." Jack agreed.

"You need anything?" Mac asked, knowing that his Jack was still hurting. "Heat? Ice? Pain meds? I can go dig out the sling from that GSW at Halloween?"

"I'm fine." Jack said. "Just wanna lay here a while." A glance at his partner's face showed that Mac wasn't finished helping though, and Jack knew from experience that it was better to give Mac something to do rather than let him come up with it on his own. "Actually, you know what, bud? An ice pack sounds great."

Mac returned moments later with a bag of the frozen peas that Jack kept in the freezer for these occasions. "Anything else?" Mac asked quietly once the makeshift ice pack was in place.

"Naw, I'm gonna try to catch a few z's before Matty calls us in for the next one." Jack said around a yawn.

"Alright." Mac agreed with a smile. "But I don't think you're going to be heading out on any missions for a while, man. Not with that shoulder."

"I'll be right as rain in no time." Jack argued. "But there may be a silver lining to this." He said, eyes lighting up with an idea. "You know how I've been thinkin' about a way to get into Matty's house? See what info she has in there about how she knows your dad?"

"Um, no." Mac said with a frown. "I did not know you were thinking about that."

"Oh. Well I have been." Jack said. "And this could be the perfect chance! If I'm not on the mission roster and Matty's doin' overwatch at Phoenix then I can get in there!"

"That's crazy Jack. You can't break into Matty's house." Mac insisted, shaking his head. "I appreciate the thought, but you just can't. It's too risky. You just get some rest, we'll come up with a plan, a safer plan, later, alright?"

"Yeah, I hear you. We'll talk later." Jack said, never exactly agreeing not to go through with his plan. "Thanks for your help, pal." He said, holding his hand out for a fist bump before his eyes slipped closed. He heard Mac quietly moving around his apartment for a few moments before the door locked behind him as he left.

Jack woke a few hours later, shoulder throbbing and back stiff from sleeping on the couch. He rolled over, the bag of now thawed peas falling to the floor. His face broke into a smile as he saw his coffee table, back in his proper position in front of the sofa, the top of it covered with items. A heating pad, a glass of water and bottle of pain medication, his phone plugged in and charging, his remote controls lined up in a neat row, his trusty old navy blue sling, and the newest copy of Autoweek that he hadn't had a chance to read yet, all there in easy reach waiting for him. "That kid." He said fondly, shaking his head.

He swallowed a couple of pain pills and half of the water before reaching for his phone. His fingers hovering over Elwood's name on his contacts list. Mac wouldn't like it, but they needed to find out what Matty knew. And if he couldn't find anything then Mac never had to know that he had went looking in the first place. Jack glanced back at the coffee table, at the items Mac had so carefully arranged, doing everything he could possibly think of even though Jack hadn't asked for his help. "Two can play at that game." Jack said to himself as he clicked on Elwood's name and brought the phone up to his ear.

 **Sorry to anyone who was hoping this was gonna be a tag to Wind+Water. That one's coming I promise, but I have this and one more little tag before I tackle that beast of an episode.**


	9. Ben Franklin Grey Duffle

**Because Mac being afraid of heights is one of my favorite things I had to continue that scene a little bit.**

Mac was almost grateful for the array of sounds that suddenly filled the air as they began their descent. Between the cracks of gunshots, the popping of balloons, and Jack's whoops of glee, the noise was enough to distract him from his own mind, to dull the equations that seemed to be on a constant loop. Wind speed and velocity, checking his math again on their combined weight plus the metal frame of the trampoline against the amount of helium needed to keep them in the air, how long the helium would stay in the balloons in their current atmosphere, trying to calculate how much time the wind's change in direction would add to their hike back to the exfil point. All those thoughts mixed with the everpresent panic of being ten thousand feet above solid ground, calmed slightly, drowned out by the noise.

He forced himself to take a breath, hating that it sounded as shaky as it felt, and stuffed his knife back into his pocket. His hands were trembling enough that he hadn't even been able to open the blade before Jack had started shooting. He rolled over, slowly, wincing at the give in the trampoline fabric from his movement. Once on his back again he noticed the soft ping of shell casings raining down, a few bouncing off his leather jacket.

"Okay, yeah this is working." Riley said definitely. "We're not being carried by the wind any more, just heading straight down."

"Down. Great." Mac said with a grimace. "Just great."

"Hey it's better than the alternative." She pointed out. "At least we're not going any higher. Or, you know, being carried out over the ocean on this thing. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I have a job where I have been at risk of falling out of the sky twice in two weeks."

"I'm officially adding 'falling' to the list of words I'm going to ask you not to say in this situation." Mac replied, his tone a little harsher than he intended, as he tightly closed his eyes again.

"Sorry." She said, trying hard not to smile at the rare occurrence of Mac being scared. "If it's any help we'll be back on the gro… damn, can't say ground either." She playfully nudged him with her elbow. "We'll be landing in no time."

"That's not an accurate estimation of time." Mac corrected automatically.

"Hey, I don't know about you two," Jack broke in, speaking between shots. "But I'm havin' a great time up here. Kinda bummed we're gettin' down so fast."

Mac's eyes shot open as an entirely new concern added itself to his overflowing mind. "Jack stop shooting."

"Calm down, it's fine. I got a whole 'nother clip on my belt. I'm not runnin' out any time soon." Jack assured, firing off another shot. "You see that? Took out five balloons with one bullet!"

"Jack! Stop!" Mac said again, reaching out to swat at Jack's hand . The trampoline tilted slightly to the side from Jack's shooting and Mac's hand flailed, grabbing onto the first solid item he could find, which just happened to be Jack's coat.

"Easy there, bud." Jack said softly, lowering his gun and getting his first real look at his partner's terrified face since it was turned towards him. "We're alright, just gotta get this thing down."

"To fast." Mac said through panicked breaths. "Don't bust any more."

"Well the faster we're goin' down the sooner we'll be back on planet Earth instead of floating around in her atmosphere." Jack reasoned. "We ain't even movin' that fast, just try to relax."

"How fast we get down isn't the problem, Jack." Riley cut in, understanding what Mac was trying to say. "The problem's going to be landing this thing if we go any faster."

"Oh." Jack said, realization dawning in his eyes. "Oh hell. Yeah, okay, no more guns." He agreed, slipping his pistol back into the holster on his thigh.

"Mac?" Riley asked cautiously, feeling the fear coming off the man beside her in waves.

"He's alright." Jack assured, meeting her eyes with a nod and turning his attention to his partner. "You hear that, pal? You're fine. We all are. We're gonna get off here, safe and sound, real soon."

Mac gave one terse nod of his head and tightened his grip on Jack's jacket in acknowledgement. Jack smiled and rested a hand on Mac's forearm, trying to ground him through the panic.

"Riley how's our landing looking?" Jack asked after a few silent moments had passed.

She carefully scooted closer to the edge of the trampoline and peered down between the springs. "Um, I don't want to jinx it or anything but I think we got pretty lucky." She said with a relieved smile. "From what I'm seeing it's all farm land. Pastures, crop fields, a few buildings but no residential areas or heavy forests."

"That's good." Mac said with a sigh, some of the worry bleeding from his tense frame.

"Yeah, but this thing still isn't gonna land easy." Jack said with a frown. "Riley just how far off the ground are we?"

"Just over one thousand feet." She answered.

"Alright time to put that nifty little gadget away and grab hold of the frame. Tight." He instructed. "When this contraption hits ground it's gonna try to throw us off."

Riley nodded and wrapped her hands around the trampolines shiny metal frame.

"You too, bud." Jack said, nudging Mac's arm on his way to hold on to the trampoline himself. "Move that kung fu death grip off of me and onto somethin' else for the time being."

"Sorry." Mac apologized as he slowly released his hold on the jacket and followed Jack's lead.

"No worries, partner." Jack assured with a smile. "Just remember to add seat belts next time you build one of these things."

"I think I can safely speak for Mac and myself when I say that hopefully there won't ever be a next time." Riley said.

"Well, we're gonna have to ask Matty to pull some strings, reimburse that family for ruining their kid's party. Us running in, stealin' the decorations AND the poor girl's new trampoline? Helluva seventh birthday." Jack reminded them.

"They got to watch a real life reenactment of a movie I'm sure all those kids grew up watching. They probably thought it was awesome." Riley argued.

"Can you two please argue about that after we survive this landing?" Mac asked, beginning to see scenery around them instead of open blue sky.

"Damn." Jack said, looking over the rim of the trampoline at the quickly approaching ground. "Think I should have popped a few less balloons, we really are coming in fast."

Mac and Riley had time to share a quick eye roll before Jack's warning rang out through the field they were about to touch down in. "Hold on, here we go!"

The trampoline made impact with a surprisingly quiet clang, the remaining balloons filled with helium lifting it back off the ground almost immediately, dropping it back to European soil just to pick it back up again, bouncing four times before finally settling.

"That, was awesome." Jack declared, a huge grin breaking out on his face.

"That was nauseating." Riley corrected, slowly sitting up.

"I want off this thing. Now." Mac declared, rolling over and crawling across the ring of trampoline springs just to collapse onto his back again, this time in the grass of the field they had landed on. "Next time Bozer wants to have an 'Animation Appreciation' movie night, I'm voting for Wall-E."

 **This was maybe my favorite opening that we got all season, I just needed to expand on it a little. Next chapter coming will be a Wind+Water tag but it probably won't be out before the finale Friday so this is me wishing everyone good luck for it, I hope it isn't as upsetting as I'm afraid it will be.**


	10. WindWater

**So the first part kinda took on a mind of it's own and became way longer than I intended. And Mac sleeps a lot in this chapter. Don't know why, that's just how it played out in my head.**

 **Part One: Continuation of the freezer incident**

Jack Dalton wasn't one to usually answer a phone call from any number he didn't recognize. Anyone he would want to talk to was in his contact list and he felt that he had saved the world enough times to not have to deal with the programmed voices guilting him into donating to a charity that would probably never see his hard-earned money anyway. But he'd had a bad feeling since the moment Mac and Riley left Phoenix HQ without him, so he quickly answered his phone the instant it rang, because he knew. Call it instinct, a gut feeling, Spidey-senses, whatever it was, he just knew that they were in trouble.

"Dalton." He answered, already barreling through the nearly empty Phoenix hallways towards the war room where Matty was overseeing two more missions.

"J-Jack?" The pit that had formed in Jack's stomach the second Mac and Riley had left his sight twisted in panic at the sound of his partner's voice. He swore the kid sounded like he was shivering.

"I'm here, bud." He assured, taking care to keep his voice calm. "Whacha need?"

"A, uh, a g-get out of jail f-free card would be g-great." He said through what Jack could tell clearly now actually was shivers. "And a w-warm blanket."

"Hang on." Jack said, putting the phone to his shoulder and grabbing the arm of the first lab tech he passed on his way down the hall. "You. With me. Now. I need this call tracked." The tech nodded, and quickly followed Jack. "Alright Mac, I need a few more details. Where's Ri?"

"S-safe. In the other c-cop c-car." Mac stuttered. "She had a jacket."

"Cop car? You were serious about headin' to the slammer?" Jack asked, bursting through the war room door.

"Jack!" Matty screamed, but her scowl at his interruption quickly faded when she saw Jack's face.

"I'm putting you on speaker, pal. I got Matty listenin' in." He said as Mac's voice mixed with the sounds of the lab tech's typing as she tried to track the call.

"D-don't have much t-time. Officer doesn't know I b-borrowed his p-phone." Mac said as Jack bit back a laugh. "Got the drive but t-they fol-followed us. We h-hid and I blew up the d-diner from the freezer. It got stuck"

"What diner?" Matty asked with a frown.

"That's what you take from that?" Jack asked exasperated. "Okay, freezer. I take it that's why you're so cold. Either of you hurt?"

"N-no. We're fine. Just in b-big trouble." Mac assured.

"Director Webber?" A new voice cut in shyly and it took Jack a moment to trace it to the tech he had grabbed from the hall. "I have his location.

"Good. Find the closest jail to his current coordinates. That's where he'll be headed." Matty said, rolling her eyes. "Okay blondie. So not only did you two fail to upload the data you were sent in to retrieve, but you were tracked by the goons you stole it from, blew up some random diner, and got trapped in a freezer. And now that you got caught by the local first responders, you need me to get you out of a world of trouble. And you call to ask me to do this from a cell phone you stole from your arresting officer?" Matty asked incredulously.

"P-please?" Mac asked meekly. "If you could j-just get us out of lock up, we c-can make it to exf-fil."

"Mac, you've already been taken into custody. They have to get you two booked and in the system before they can be allowed to release you. Even if I drop everything and start making the calls, that chopper will be long gone before you two get out of there. You're stuck for a while." Matty explained, ignoring Jack's evergrowing frown.

"Hang in there, partner. I'm on my way." Jack assured. "You tell Riley that too, when you see her, ya here? I'll be right there."

"No, Jack. You won't be. I have a team in Barcelona way in over their heads. They need an overwatch with sniper skills, asap. You're wheels up in twenty." Matty sighed. "Mac, I know it's not an ideal situation, but technically, even if you're holed up in some county jail overnight, at least you're safe. That's more than I can say for all of my teams at the moment so you're not exactly top priority."

"Like hell he's not!" Jack yelled, causing the forgotten lab tech to jump. "I don't give a damn about some other team needing overwatch, I'm Mac's overwatch, end of story! Riley's too! And they're in trouble, which means I'm on my way to get them out. Now."

Matty stood her ground, the two of them staring at each other, until Jack finally broke the silence. "You should know better than getting between me and those kids, Matilda."

"Fine." She said in defeat. "Mac, Jack's on his way."

"Th-thank you." Mac said with a sigh of relief.

"Mac, buddy, you just hang in there, alright? If they haven't blown your cover yet, try to keep it that way. And delete my number from that phone and give it back to the cop as soon as you see him. Tell him he dropped it. Stay on his good side." He ordered.

"K-Kay." Mac agreed, followed by a whispered curse. "He's coming ba-back."

"I'll see you soon." Jack promised, barely getting the words out before Mac hung up his end of the call.

"You." Jack said, pocketing his phone and pointing to the lab tech. "Get the coordinates of that call up to the pilot."

"Um, I'm sorry, that chopper was taking you to Barcelona. If you're not going then I have to send another agent. You can't just take off in it to go bail your kids out of jail." Matty intercepted.

"Well then get me another chopper!" Jack exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration.

"Unnecessary waste of Phoenix funds, Jack." Matty rolled her eyes. "Technically, they aren't in any danger, I can't just send out an emergency chopper. You're the one always bragging about how fast that car of yours is, go get them!"

"Alright I will." Jack said, turning on his heel and storming out of the war room towards the garage. "You'd better have them cleared and ready to go by the time I get there!" He called from the hallway.

Jack drove straight through till daybreak, only stopping for gasoline and to pick up three extra-large coffees at the little shop a few blocks from the county jail where Mac and Riley had spent the night. He was leaning against the side of his car, savoring the caffeine he could feel slowly recharging his energy levels and watching the small town come to life around him as dawn turned to morning and the jailhouse doors finally opened revealing Mac and Riley, looking more like soon-to-be-grounded teenagers than their twenty-something, secret agent selves. They broke out into relieved smiles upon seeing Jack waiting on them.

"Bailin' you two out of prison for trespassing wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my morning!" Jack called out with a grin.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you." Riley said, bounding down the stairs and greeting him with a hug.

"It'd be better if I was seeing you with another cup of coffee." Mac said, enviousously eyeing the steam coming from the to-go mug in Jack's hand.

"In the cup holder." Jack promised with a smile, letting go of Riley and reaching a closed fist out to his partner. "Figured you might need it."

"Think I'm gonna need twelve of them before I start to warm up." Mac said, tapping his fingers against Jack's.

"Jeez, kid!" Jack exclaimed, grabbing Mac's hand and wrapping his fingers around it. "Your hands are like ice! What'd they do, find another freezer to lock you in?"

"Very funny." Mac said with a smirk, pulling his hand out of Jack's grip. "Officer Whatshisname didn't believe that he dropped his phone. But since I gave it back before he noticed it was missing he couldn't add theft to the trespassing charge. But he stuck me in a cell with the air conditioning 'stuck' on fifty eight degrees all night."

"Damn." Jack frowned. "I'm sorry, kid. Here." He slipped out of his jacket and handed it to Mac.

"Thanks." Mac said with a sigh of relief as he pulled on the coat, still warm from Jack's body heat.

"They didn't try to turn you into a popsicle too, did they?" Jack asked, turning to Riley who was happily downing the coffee had found waiting for her in the back seat.

"Nah, I'm good." She assured him with a smile. "I didn't get as cold as Mac. Seriously, of all the missions for you not to wear that old leather jacket you pick the one where you lock us in a freezer?" She teased, tossing her backpack into the seat and climbing into the car.

"Can we just go home?" Mac asked with a tired sigh.

"Yeah, get in." Jack said, patting the hood of his car as he walked around to the driver's side door, cranking the heat up as high as it would go after the engine started with a familiar roar.

"So you two broke into this diner to upload the info you got, the bad guys followed you, and you locked yourselves in the freezer while you blew up the diner around you." Jack repeated, making sure he had the story right when they were back on the road. "Sounds like a typical Friday night. But I've got one question. How in the hell did the two of you get found hiding in the remains of a building you blew up and only get arrested for trespassing, not terrorism, or somethin' like that."

Mac smirked into his coffee cup while Riley tried, unsuccessfully, to hold back a laugh. "You wanna tell it, Mac?" She asked.

"Go for it." He said, settling back in his seat, the cold finally beginning to thaw but leaving behind exhaustion in its wake.

"So when we realized that there was no way we were getting out of that freezer on our own," Riley began. "We knew it was going to be the first responders finding us. Which meant we needed an excuse to be there that didn't involve us wanting to blow the place up."

"And we needed an explanation for Riley's backpack and laptop." Mac cut in. "Cause the last thing we needed was them getting even more suspicious and going searching through her rig."

"Top secret spy stuff." Jack agreed, nodding.

"We got lucky that it was just the two of us there." Riley continued. "Decided that since there was a university a few miles away we would just take advantage of our ages. The cops had to be used to dealing with stupid college kids."

"And it turns out Riley's a pretty decent actress." Mac said, tossing a smile over his shoulder.

"Oh, officer! Thank goodness you found us! I thought we were just going to freeze to death in there." Riley exclaimed, her voice warping into that of a clichead southern damsel in distress. "We were so scared!"

"Yeah, that's terrifying." Jack interrupted. "Never use that voice again. Mac, finish it up."

"So a bunch of us were at the library and a late night study group turned into a game of truth or dare." Mac explained.

"And you two were dared to break into the diner?" Jack guessed.

"My brother in law is a locksmith, down in Dallas." Riley said, in her southern belle voice again. "He taught me a few tricks."

"Stop that!" Jack said, though he was starting to find the accent funny.

"So we were dared to break into the diner." Mac continued. "As soon as we got in though we heard someone else rattling the doorknob. We panicked, thinking someone saw us and had called the police, so we hid in the freezer. There were voices and then an explosion and we couldn't get out."

"And they bought that?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Not really." Riley said, back to her normal voice. "But between Matty's threats and the remains of the actual bad guys they found in the rubble, they had to let us go with a warning."

"Which I'm sure Matty has already had wiped from your records." Jack said, shaking his head at the situations his team managed to find themselves in.

"Hopefully." Mac agreed, downing the rest of his coffee and wrapping Jack's coat closer around him.

"You see what happens when she sends you two off without me watchin' your backs?" Jack asked, already planning a conversation with their director when they made it back to HQ. "Y'all nearly freeze to death."

"Nah, we would have ran out of oxygen first." Mac argued.

"Cause that makes me feel so much better." Jack sighed. "Just, don't do it again."

"What, lock ourselves in a diner's walk-in freezer and then blow up the diner around us?" Riley asked innocently.

"Yeah that." Jack shot back, looking back and catching her eye in the rearview mirror.

"I can honestly say I'm not planning on doing it ever again." Mac conceded. "But then again, plans aren't exactly my thing."

"You know what my thing is? Keepin' you two alive." Jack said. "So stop pulling these crazy stunts unless I'm there to get you out of 'em!"

Mac smiled. "Oh, you were there." He assured around a yawn, closing his eyes and leaning against the car window.

He was asleep before Riley stopped laughing.

 **Part Two**

A soft tone rang out through the cabin of the Phoenix jet before the pilot's voice came across the intercom system announcing that they would be landing in Pakistan in approximately ten minutes.

Jack sighed, passing a tired hand over his face as he gently nudged Riley, who was curled up in the seat across from him, phone in hand and headphones on, with his boot. "Touching down in ten." He said once he had her attention.

Bozer finished the last of his water bottle and crunched the plastic in his fist, the sound echoing through the cabin didn't even cause Mac, who was fast asleep on the sofa along the back wall of the plane, to stir. "You wanna go wake him up or you want me to do it?" Bozer asked, turning to Jack.

"I'll get him." Jack said, standing and stretching his arms over his head as he made his way to his sleeping partner, frowning at the bruises that had darkened on his face over the length of their trip and the split lip. Injuries that he had suffered because, once again, Jack wasn't by his side, where he was supposed to be.

He sat down on the couch beside Mac, the movement still not enough to cause the younger man to as much as flinch, let alone wake up. "Nah, that'd be to easy." Jack muttered under his breath. He hated to wake Mac, he knew the kid needed his rest, but Matty had been adamant about them seeing this mission through after their delay in Puerto Rico, no matter how many times he told her that Mac wasn't up to it. Mac had assured them that he was fine, so off they went.

"Mac?" He called, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Mac, sorry bud, but you gotta wake up. Time to go save the world again." Nothing. "Mac." He tried again, louder, this time giving his shoulder a slight shake.

Mac bolted upright suddenly, Jack's hand on his shoulder the only thing that kept his face from colliding with Jack's. "Easy." Jack said softly. "You're alright."

"Carlos." Mac said, his eyes growing wide with panic, mind still sluggish with sleep.

"Carlos is fine." Jack assured, ducking his head to meet Mac's eyes. "Carlos, his family, everyone from the bank, they're all safe thanks to you."

Mac nodded slowly, memories flooding in of escaping the bank, the car chase, bullets flying, the safety of Jack's arms wrapping him in a hug while the local police took care of the men who had taken him hostage. "Pakistan." He said once his mind was fully caught up.

"Yup. Landing real soon." Jack said, glad that Mac's memory seemed fine once he was awake, he had worried about his partner having a concussion from all the hits he had taken. His relief was short lived, though, as he watched Mac's face pale as the adrenaline of waking up terrified for his friend faded and his injuries reacted to his sudden jolt awake.

"Oww." He hissed, wrapping an arm protectively around the ribs he had promised Jack were just bruised, not broken, and curled forward, bringing his forehead to rest against Jack's shoulder with a defeated thump. He was hurting and exhausted and had just had one hell of a bad day, a day that apparently the universe didn't think had been long enough since he wasn't anywhere close to it being over yet. They were minutes away from starting a new job even though he hadn't had a chance to sleep off and heal from the last one so he was going to let Jack take the wheel for a moment, personal space be damned.

Jack's hand instinctively came up to rest at the back of Mac's neck, steady and grounding, while the other was waving off Bozer and Riley's worried looks. He silently counted the seconds, giving Mac time to regain his bearings before finally speaking, making sure to keep his voice low. "Long day, huh?"

Mac didn't bother with a response, just nodded, leaning even more into Jack.

"Brother, if you're not up to handlin' this it's fine. We can turn this thing back around and go home." Jack said, silently hoping that Mac would agree to do just that.

"Matty needs…" Mac began but Jack cut him off quickly.

"What Matty needs, is to realize that sometimes life don't work out like we planned. She has plenty other teams she can send over here to take care of things, she doesn't have to send us. Not with you knocked clear off your feet." Jack said, not for the first time since they agreed to take on this mission. "Seriously, if you need to sit this one out we will. And you just let me deal with Matty."

"I'm okay." Mac assured, sounding more like his usual self as he slowly sat back up. "Just needed a minute."

"You sure?" Jack asked, dropping his hand to Mac's shoulder. "Don't go hurtin' yourself worse just to make Matty happy."

"I'm good to go." He smiled as much as he could with his split lip. "And we're already here, might as well see it through. Thanks though, for being ready to go to bat for me with Matty if I needed out."

"Anytime, brother." Jack grinned back. "Anytime. You sure you don't want me to wrap those for you before we get goin'?" He asked, nodding at Mac's still guarded side as he stood up, offering Mac a hand.

"I'm sure." He said, letting Jack carefully pull him to standing, rolling his eyes at his partner's overprotective tendencies when he got hurt.

"Alright." Jack agreed, making a mental note to make sure Riley tossed a first aid kit in her backpack before the left the jet, just in case. "But hey, let me take the punches this time, you hear?"

Mac laughed as the pair made their way towards Riley and Bozer, who were going over the notes Matty had sent them about the mission one last time. "You know what? I think I'll take you up on that offer."

Jack carefully slung an arm across Mac's shoulders with a grin, thankful to have him back within his reach. He'd take every hit the world threw his way if it meant Mac didn't have to.

 **So yeah, bromance abounds because I needed it. Starting on a tag for the finale right now.**


	11. MacGyverMacGyver

**And so we made it to the end of season two. What a ride. Very long compilation of finale thoughts ahead: Don't read if you haven't watched and if you don't wanna read, feel free to skip to the story.**

 **Really dislike Mac's dad. Really, really, REALLY dislike him. Like, a lot. That scene in the lab when they were fighting about Mac's mom broke my heart.**

 **So thankful that the writers weren't dumb enough to make Jack one of the bad guys, I was terrified that he was going to be in on the secret about Mac's dad and I wasn't prepared to handle that. I think that would have been enough to make me wash my hands of this fandom, honestly.**

 **And I'm glad that things worked out well with Mac and Matty in the end because I have always loved and trusted her (unlike Thornton who, for some reason, I didn't trust from the beginning. Literally, from the moment she walked down the staircase in Lake Como I got a bad vibe.)**

 **The whole Riley thinking about leaving Phoenix to go work for the Coltons thing seemed SO RANDOM to me! Like, I get that they needed somewhere for her to go after Mac quit but that was really fast and totally out of character for her. No disrespect to the Coltons, because I'll take any opportunity for more Coltons, I love them, and I think Riley and Billy are pretty cute together. It was just so sudden, I literally rewound it and listened to him say that twice just to make sure I was hearing him right because I couldn't believe it.**

 **Leanna is quite possibly the most boring, vanilla, uninteresting character they could have written, in my opinion. I'm guessing that season 3 is gonna find her and Bozer still working at Phoenix with Matty. They wouldn't have thrown in the random thing about Riley working with the Coltons unless they plan on her ending up there, at least for a while, and obviously Jack isn't going to be there without Mac (Right? RIGHT?!). But I don't think Mac would want Bozer to quit, especially since Leanna is there now, just because of him. So they're all going their own separate ways but then Murdoc is going to show up, or Charlie is going to call about a lead on the Ghost, and the team's going to get back together again for one last job to finish what they started and then they will realize how much they missed each other and how much they need each other and blah blah blah, we'll be back to normal by the second episode. Or at least I hope so.**

 **Overall, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, I was prepared for way worse. The thing that disappointed me the most, though, was that we didn't get another piece of the Cairo puzzle for the opening! I just expected that we would get that for each finale but instead of Jack singing, and Bozer yelling about Mac not buying Cheerios and "Mac, my mummy thinks you're hot." we got Elwood. So disappointing.**

 **Part One**

 **Part One**

"So basically, this is like you huntin' for me." Jack said, not entirely joking, the new information about his partner's life kept coming in waves and Jack hadn't had time to process any of it. And if he was feeling overwhelmed, he could only imagine how Mac was coping.

Mac didn't bother with a response, just sent Jack a glare and Jack could see just how fed up his partner was with all the curve balls MacGyver Sr. kept throwing his son's way. "Mac…" He started but the younger man stopped him with a raised hand.

"Don't Jack." Mac said with a defeated sigh. "Don't ask me if I'm okay, cause you know I'm not. I'm so far from okay at the moment… Don't ask if I need to talk about it cause we don't have time. Just, let's go, alright? Get this over with."

Mac was making valid points Jack knew, and he probably wouldn't have pushed the issue any further, would have just kept going with the mission, following James's lead, but when Mac moved his hand back down he saw the splash of red and his priorities immediately realigned. The mission faded to the background, the importance of finding Walsh, everything centered around Mac.

"Let me see." He ordered, grabbing Mac's forearm as his partner moved to turn away from him. "Mac. Stop."

"It's fine." Mac huffed as Jack pulled the side of the younger man's coat away and found, sure enough, a slice in his plaid shirt, just below his collarbone.

"That don't look like nothing." Jack argued, undoing the top buttons of Mac's shirt, personal space falling to the wayside when his partner was injured.

"It's just a scratch." Mac assured, knowing better than to argue about Jack checking him over.

"From his knife or that stunt with the window?" Jack asked, careful fingers exploring the wound.

"I honestly couldn't tell you." Mac said, voice indifferent. "Don't even really feel it now, to be honest. Don't feel much of anything."

"What are you two doing?" James MacGyver's voice cut through their conversation, causing Mac to flinch. "We need to get going."

"Hold on, now." Jack said, keeping one hand on his partner's shoulder, for comfort or to keep Mac from fleeing, he wasn't sure. Maybe a little of both. "We got a bit of a situation here." He nodded to Mac.

James took a step closer, peering at the wound as if it were a cell through a microscope. "Nothing life threatening, just a flesh wound." He declared. "You've had worse. Push through it and let's get moving."

Jack felt Mac's shoulder drop in defeat slightly, the situation turning into one more time his father had disappointed him, had chosen the job over his son, before he braced himself, as if preparing for a punch, and straightened his posture. "Yes sir." He said softly.

James nodded, and turned to walk away, clearly expecting both men to follow him.

"We ain't going anywhere until he's patched up." Jack announced, internally pleased at the way the other man's steps faltered in shock, he wasn't used to someone standing up to him, ignoring his direct orders.

"I think you're confused, Jack." James said, without bothering to turn to talk to Jack face to face. "Either about exactly whose orders you are defying or the importance of this situation, I'm not sure. But either way you need to get some common sense through that thick skull of yours and do what you were trained to do, what you were hired to do, and start following orders."

"Oh I know exactly who I'm ignoring." Jack said. "And I don't give a damn. As for what I was hired to do? My job is to take care of my partner. That's my mission. If you want to run off and leave us here, go take care of your buddy-gone-bad, be my guest. You leavin' is nothing new. But if you want our help, and somehow I get the feeling that you know you're gonna need it, since you went through the inconvenience of bringing us along this far, you're going to wait until I make sure my partner is alright."

"Jack, don't." Mac said softly. "It's not worth it, let's just go."

"You are always worth it." Jack insisted, the double meaning behind the words ringing through loud and clear. "And he can either be on his merry way or go get me the first aid kit from your Jeep."

James turned and walked back into the building without a word.

"You think he's bringing back the med kit or taking the car?" Mac asked when the man, Mac's long lost father, he had to keep reminding himself, was out of earshot.

"We'll find out soon enough." Jack reasoned, ducking his head to meet Mac's eyes. "Either way gives us a chance to talk."

"I don't want to talk, Jack." Mac sighed, walking over and leaning against one of the window sills that lined the brick building.

"Don't wanna talk to me?" Jack asked, following his partner but taking care not to get too close, knowing that feeling stifled would just make Mac pull away even more. "Or don't wanna talk in general?"

"In general." Mac assured with a small smile, the first Jack had seen so far on their current mission.

"Good." Jack smiled back. The moment was interrupted by James walking back through the open doorway, first aid kit in hand. "Guess we know which one he picked."

"I found the med supply box but there isn't a suture kit in it." James announced. "Although I'm not sure why…. You know, Angus, your little improvisation trick is cute but you don't have to force yourself into those situations all the time. Use a little common sense and you won't have to go digging up a fish hook and dental floss next time someone needs stitches."

"It's not deep enough to need stitches." Mac said, hanging his head so that his hair fell over his eyes.

"And we've both been patched up by that little fishin' hook, dental floss trick. Saved our asses more than once." Jack defended.

"Fine. Let's take care of this so we can get on the road." James said, pulling Mac's jacket away from his shoulder with a tug.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jack asked, standing up and taking a step closer to Mac's father. "Get your hands off him."

"He's my son, Dalton." James said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of him."

"No." Mac snapped, his eyes meeting James's with fury. "Apparently you can't. You don't just get to show up after fifteen years and pretend like everything's fine, like I'm still that six year old kid who just fell off his bike and needs you to fix his scraped knee."

"Hey." Jack said, stepping between the two men. "I'm all for you two having this conversation, but maybe not now, alright?" He took the first aid kit from James's hands and turned to his partner, eyebrows raised in a silent question.

Mac nodded and Jack balanced the medical kit on Mac's knees as he began digging through it.

"So you'll let him do my job." James scoffed. "Interesting."

"He's been doing it for the past seven years." Mac replied. "Sorry if I trust him more than you."

James stared at his son for a moment and Jack swore he saw a flash of hurt pass through the man's eyes. After all he had put Mac through, he couldn't be bothered to care. "I'll just go wait in the car then." James decided, walking away without another word.

"Sorry." Mac said softly, once his father was out of hearing distance and Jack had begun cleaning the scratch on his chest. "I didn't' mean to put you in the middle of that." He shook his head, as if trying to erase the memory. "I just kinda lost it."

"Dude, that wasn't you losing it." Jack said with a sad smile. "Trust me. You've got a lot of stuff to work through, you and him. And I have a feeling it's gonna get worse before it gets better."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Mac agreed.

"But hey, I'm here no matter how it goes down, okay?" Jack asked with a smile.

Mac just nodded and closed his eyes, trusting Jack to take care of everything for the time being, trusting Jack not to leave.

 **Part Two**

Jack watched with the rest of their little family, now down one critical member, as Mac walked the length of the hallway, his eyes never leaving the form of his partner's retreating shoulders, until Mac turned a corner and was out of his sight. He closed his eyes, childishly wishing, hoping, praying even, than when he opened them again Mac would be there, standing in front of him, sly smile on his face because it had all been a bad joke, or that any second he would come barreling back around the corner, boots squeaking against the linoleum, realizing he had made a huge mistake.

But it hadn't been a mistake, Jack knew that, deep down. No matter how nauseous Mac's decision made him or how badly it hurt, like someone had reached inside his chest and pulled his heart out, replacing it with a block of ice, jagged and bitterly cold, it hadn't been a mistake.

"Um," Bozer's voice was the first to break the silence. "Did that just happen? He can't really quit. Can he?"

Jack took a breath, reminding himself that he wasn't the only one affected by the latest turn of events, and forced his eyes open, strategically not looking down the hallway Mac had disappeared through because he knew it would only hurt more. "Yeah, Boze. He can. He just did." He said gently, knowing that on a normal day he would be embarrassed at how choked up his voice was but not having it in him to care at the moment.

"So… It's over?" Riley asked and Jack knew she was crying before he even turned to look at her, which broke his heart even more.

He steeled himself before turning to face her, gently wiping away the tear tracks mascara was leaving down her cheeks with his thumbs before planting a kiss on her forehead and pulling her into a hug. "Yeah, darlin'. I think it is."

"Not exactly." Matty interrupted. "Just because we lost Mac doesn't mean any more of you have to leave. You still have a place here, all three of you."

"Is that why you hired Leanna?" Bozer asked. "Cause you knew that once he found out he wouldn't stay?"

"I was hoping I would be wrong." Matty said sadly.

"And you think that little girl with, what, six months experience, no offense Bozer, is going to just slide in here and replace Mac?" Jack asked.

"No." Matty assured. "Not even close. Leanna is a great agent and she will no doubt be an asset to the Phoenix, but I was thinking that if Mac decided to stick with his original decision it would be nice to have someone you already know joining the team instead of hiring someone nobody trusted. A familiar face."

"The team." Riley scoffed, the sadness in her eyes giving way to anger. "There isn't a team without Mac, Matty. Jack is Mac's overwatch, I wouldn't be here if they hadn't found me and pulled me out of prison, Bozer wouldn't even know about the Phoenix, let alone work here, if it weren't for Mac."

"I get what you're saying." Matty said gently. "And if any of you choose to follow Mac, well I can't say that I blame you, though personally, I'm hoping you don't. But I'm going to ask you not to make any rash decisions. Take some time, think things through. Please. Mac would want that much."

Jack looked down at Riley, with a questioning smile. She knew his mind had been made up the second Mac walked out the door. She nodded before breaking free of the hug.

"You do just that." Jack said agreeing with Matty and looking both Bozer and Riley in the eyes. "Both of you. Think long and hard about this before you decide. Mac wouldn't want you to leave because of him."

"I get the feeling you're not going to take your own advice?" Matty asked sadly.

"We're a package deal, Matty. Me and Mac. I don't' have a place here without him." Jack said, oddly at peace with the decision.

"Then you know what to do." She said nodding towards where James MacGyver was still standing in the war room.

Jack took a breath before walking through the doorway, knocking lightly on the frame as he entered. "James? Can we talk for a minute?"

"I'm still your boss, Dalton. I thought we already went through this." James said with a sigh, turning to face Jack, expression faltering when he saw the other man's face. "Well I thought I was still your boss…"

"Afraid you're going to have two sets of resignation papers to fill out this evening." Jack said. "And my 'sirs' are reserved for people who have earned my respect."

"I see." James said, motioning towards a set of chairs. "You wanted to talk?"

Jack sat down in the chair opposite of Mac's father, elbows braced on his knees, fingers intertwined. "What's your earliest memory, James?" He asked, staring at a spot on the wall just past the other man's shoulder. "How old were you?"

"I'm not sure what this has to do with your resignation…" James said. "Or my son, for that matter."

"Just humor me." Jack said with a wan smile. "See, I'd say I was about three. That's as far back as I can remember."

"Probably around there, yes." James agreed with confusion. "But if there is a point to this, Jack, please make it."

"Let's say that since you and I can't either one remember before we were three years old, Mac can't either. And you left when he turned ten, which means that he has seven years of memories with you." Jack said. "Sound about right?"

"I'm not proud of that number, but yes." James admitted.

"See now here's my point. I've put in seven years too." Jack said. "Since I started working with your son, James. Over the course of that boy's life I've been there for him just as much as you have."

"I was here, Dalton. Always." James snapped.

"Not when it mattered." Jack said, voice scarily calm. "You were sitting upstairs somewhere, safe behind a desk. It was me, who kept him alive over there in that desert, what times he wasn't busy savin' me. And it was me who signed up for this job when he decided to take it, cause I couldn't stand the thought of someone else watching his back. Nobody would do as good a job as I did. I'm the one that spends the nights by his side when he's hurt, layin' up there in medical and the one who spent years breaking through those walls he built around his heart so damn high because of how bad you hurt him. I have spent the last seven years of my life loving that kid. But the difference between you and me, James, is that I'm not stopping at seven.

"There's a lot of differences between you and me, Jack." James said, rubbing a tired hand across his forehead. "Just like there's a lot of differences between you and my son, who I must say, after officially meeting again, is less like me than I thought. But if you wanted to come in here and hurt me, you could have just hit me. That's more your style anyway, isn't it?"

"The only reason I didn't slam you into the ground so hard you're still layin' here come morning is because I know Mac wouldn't want me to. After everything you've done, he still wouldn't want me to hurt you." Jack hissed, standing up. "But you're right about something. That kid? He's nothing like you. Yeah he might have your big brain but he uses to fix things. All you do is break. You broke the heart of that little ten year old boy, who had already been through more than any kid should have to deal with, when you left. You broke his trust in people, in anyone loving him, even though he loves so damn much. And you did it again. Just now. You broke apart his family."

"Angus quit." James said, looking up at Jack. "He made that decision all on his own. As did you."

"He quit his job." Jack agreed. "But he didn't quit needing his dad. You just chose to stop being one."

"Dalton you don't work here anymore. I'm going to ask you to leave." James said, standing up and walking over to the wall of windows.

"You have one hell of an organization here, I'll give you that." Jack said sadly looking around the war room one final time. "It was an honor to work for it. You? Not so much."

He walked across the room, heading for the door but the bowl of paperclips on the table caught his eye. Mac's paperclips. He picked it up and tucked it under his arm as he left, the door closing behind him softly.

The hallway was empty so he decided to go check on Mac rather than track down Riley, Bozer, and Matty. He didn't have far to look, though. Mac's blonde head, slumped against the concrete wall, was the first thing he saw when he entered the Phoenix parking garage.

"What are you still doin' here?" Jack asked, sitting down beside Mac and stretching his legs out, his boots nearly touching his partner's. "Dramatic exits usually involve you, ya know, actually leaving the building."

"Didn't know where to go." Mac said softly. "And the Jeep's still in Mexico."

"Well c'mon." Jack said, patting Mac on the knee. "I'll give you a ride home."

"You mean to my grandpa's house?" Mac asked bitterly, Jack had never heard him talk about his grandfather like that before. His face must have shown his confusion because Mac sighed, letting his head fall back against the wall. "He knew. My grandpa knew. He knew where my dad was, who my dad was. He gave him updates on me. Like I was some project he was funding. Which, in a way, I guess I was."

"Damn, kid." Jack shook his head morosely. "I'm so sorry. About everything, but, that especially."

"Nothing's mine anymore, Jack." Mac said, and on any other person those words would have been the breaking point, but Mac's face was blank, impassive, as if he was feeling too many things to really feel any of them at all. "My house, my job, even you, he had a hand in everything."

"For what it's worth, he didn't seem too thrilled about us quitting." Jack said softly.

"There was probably an ulterior motive behind it." Mac said. "I was probably just playing right into his plan. That's what I've done my whole life." He paused, Jack's words finally catching up with him. "Wait, what do you mean 'us' quitting? Jack please tell me you didn't." He said in panic.

"Course I did." Jack said with a grin. "You didn't think I would stay there without you, did ya?"

Mac closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ruin this for you too."

"It's fine. We knew this wasn't gonna be a forever gig." Jack assured. "And sure, it's a little earlier than we planned on leavin' but given the circumstances, I don't think anyone's gonna be shocked by it. I couldn't stay here and do my job knowing who was really in charge, not after how he did you."

"Thanks." Mac said, voice barely above a whisper. "For everything."

"Of course." Jack slung an arm around Mac's shoulders. "But we're focusing on you, for a minute, not me, okay? What can I do?"

"I don't know, Jack. Honestly. I just… I just want out of here." He said, though he didn't make any move to get out from under Jack's arm.

Jack sighed. "I get the feelin' that wherever you end up goin' you're not gonna want any company."

"I just need some time to process everything." Mac agreed. "You wanna drive me to go rent a car?"

"You ain't renting no car." Jack argued, reaching a hand into his pocket. "Take mine."

"I'm not taking your car." Mac protested, pushing away the keys Jack handed to him.

"I'll catch a ride home with somebody." Jack assured. "And at least if your off drivin' around all over creation I'll know your in a car that'll get you home."

"Okay." Mac agreed, turning to look at Jack fully for the first time since his partner had showed up in the parking garage. "Thanks." Something caught his eye as he reached over to take the keys from Jack's hand. "Is… Is that the paperclip bowl?" He asked.

"Oh." Jack huffed a laugh, reaching his hand into the mass of silver steel and letting the clips fall back into the bowl between his fingers. "Yeah. I couldn't just leave it there. Didn't feel right, letting your dad keep 'em." Jack explained sheepishly.

"You're the best, you know that?" Mac asked, amazed once again by his friend's heart.

"Oh, yeah. I'm well aware." Jack teased.

Mac smiled back. "I think I'm going to go, then."

Jack nodded. "You be careful, you hear? And check in tonight. I don't care where you go, so long as you don't leave the country without giving me a heads up, but just check in, alright? You don't even have to tell me where you are, just let me know you're safe. If you need me, I'll drop everything, be right there."

Jack stayed sitting there, against the cold concrete wall of the parking garage as his car pulled out of the building for the last time, letting the paperclips fall from his hand. Letting Mac drive away was one of the hardest things Jack had ever done, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He didn't know how James MacGyver had ever left that boy, but one thing was for damn sure, Jack wasn't going anywhere.

 **Part Three**

Mac had forgotten what a quiet night sounded like, after living in LA for so long. And those nights that he was out of the city he was usually on a job and didn't have time to appreciate the peacefulness of nightfall. But now he had nothing but time, so he walked, slowly, through the well manicured lawn, with only the moon lighting his path. It had been years since he had been there but his feet trekked forward as if they remembered the way. He hadn't meant to drive up to Mission City, for a while he was simply driving, taking a right at the first intersection he came to, a left at the next, and somehow he had ended up heading that direction, it hadn't felt wrong so he kept going.

His journey back to his hometown may have not been intentional, but driving to the cemetery gates certainly was.

It was standing there, looking exactly how he remembered it, though he tried no to picture the place too often. It had been close to ten years since he had been there but the slab of stone, carved into an angel, still caused his chest to ache. He pushed on though, not stopping until he was in front of the grave.

"Hey mom." He said softly. "It's been a while, huh?"

He looked up at the sky, at the countless stars, and sat down, leaning against the tombstone so he wouldn't have to see the words carved their. Her name. Her birthday and the day she died, that little dash between the two dates that was somehow supposed to symbolize her entire life.

"I don't entirely believe that you can hear me," He continued. "But a friend of mine says you can. He talks to his dad all the time. So I'm gonna give it a shot."

He fell silent for a while, not wanting to voice the words that he didn't even want to believe himself. "I found dad today. I'm not even sure if you knew he was gone, but, he was. He left. Well, but not really, it turns out. Turns out he was right there, all along. Pulling the strings to make my life go exactly how he wanted. Like I was some kind of puppet." His voice cracked and for the first time Mac allowed himself to break down. "I just don't know what's real anymore, mom. He lied to me, all this time. And he made grandpa lie to me too. And I don't know what to do, where to go, everything's a mess and I'm so damn mad…" His words trailed off, replaced by sobs. "And I miss you."

Mac didn't know how long he sat there, crying into the night sky, but eventually the tears subsided and he caught his breath, sighing in frustration and wiping his eyes. "Sorry. Apparently I'm even worse at talking to you than I am to people right in front of me."

"Sounds like you're doin' an alright job to me." A voice cut through the night, causing Mac to jump. "Jack?"

"You don't have to use words in places like this." Jack continued, walking closer. "She knows what you mean."

"What are you doing here?" Mac asked, looking around for some explanation. "How'd you know where I was?"

"I didn't." Jack answered. "But you forgot to call me, let me know you were alright. So I asked myself where I would go, if I'd had the day you just did. There was only one option."

"Hi there, ma'am." Jack said, stepping closer to the headstone and laying a hand on one of the angel's wings. "My name's Jack andn I'm a real good friend of your son's here, I'm gonna have a seat for a while if that's alright with you." He paused for a second before sitting down beside Mac.

"So did everyone leave?" Mac asked after a few moments passed, needing to fill the silence. "I ruined that job for all of you?"

"Matty's still onboard." Jack said. "And you knew she brought Leanna in, right?"

Mac nodded.

"Well Bozer decided to stay, but he says he's only doing lab work from here on out. Nothing in the field." Jack smiled. "He really likes that girl."

Mac nodded, some of the tension draining from his shoulders from knowing that he didn't cost his oldest friend his job.

"Riley's out though." Jack said softly, and Mac could hear the pain in his partner's voice from saying the words. "She, um, she said Mamma offered her a job. To come work with Billy and the rest of the Coltons."

"She's moving there?" Mac asked, as much as the news hurt him he couldn't imagine what Jack was feeling.

"Yeah." Jack nodded sadly. "She's flyin' down in the morning, to find a place. Coming back for the rest of her stuff at the end of the week."

Mac dropped his head into his hands. "I'm so sorry, Jack. This is all my fault. You just got her back, and things were so great and…"

"Hey." A soft hand fell on his shoulder. "Stop. We're not losing her. It's not like she's goin' off grid, never to be heard from again. She's coming back to LA to visit all of us. And her mom's there too. We'll be seein' her plenty."

"It's not the same." Mac said, voice quavering again.

"No. No it isn't." Jack agreed. "I ain't even gonna lie to you and tell you that it's gonna be better. But it's gonna be alright."

"How do you know?" Mac asked, eyes shining with tears getting ready to start falling again.

"Cause we're sitting in a cemetery, Mac. There are worse things that can happen to a family than someone movin' away and a couple others quitting their jobs." His voice turned gentler. "You of all people should know that, buddy. You can't always get what you want."

"So help me man, if you start singing The Stones right now…" Mac said with a small smile that quickly faded. "I still can't believe my dad was there, all along."

"I know, man. I know." Jack agreed. "It's beyond messed up. But there's plenty of other people who care about you and haven't screwed you over and lied to you your whole life."

"I think plenty means more than three, Jack." Mac joked tiredly. "Four if you count Matty, which, since she was lying to help me I guess we can."

"Hey, quality over quantity." Jack pointed out. "It don't matter how big of a family you got, what's important is how much they love ya."

"That's true." Mac agreed. He turned, looking at the angel behind him. "We're going to get through this, right?" He asked quietly, not sure if he was asking Jack or his mom.

"We always do, partner." Jack answered. "We always do."

"You're gonna have to stop calling me that." Mac said, elbowing Jack in the ribs. "Technically we're not partners anymore."

"No way." Jack said fiercely, leaving no room for argument. "You and me, we're partners. That don't stop just because we don't have the job to back it up."

Mac smiled, relieved. It didn't matter what the world threw his way, he knew he could handle it. Because Jack Dalton was his partner. And that was one thing that wasn't going to change.

 **The End. Wow. I'd love to hear your thoughts. On this chapter, the work in whole, season two, season three, anything. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed as much as I enjoyed writing it.**


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